Lost in Shadow
by Kvothe Arliden
Summary: Ichigo stared at the meal in front of him and pointedly ignored the looks he was receiving from the shinigami heading up to meet with Karin. After all, he wasn't supposed to see those looks at all...But then again, when has stuff like that stopped him eh?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I'm starting this new story because of the unexplained cause of Ichigo's power loss. Did they burn out, were they used up, did his soul retract in on itself, what? Also I always thought that the maturity Tubo allows Ichigo to often display is underdisplayed here so i am trying to do my part to help with that. **

**ALLLL REVIEWS ARE APRECIATED. EVEN FLAMES. They are not always as helpful, but all criticism and praise help in their own way. Hope you enjoy :)**

**Thanks,**

**Kvothe_Arliden**

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><p>Darkness.<p>

It seemed to consume him these days. Springing forth from the depths of his soul, he struggled, even now, to contain it. Of course, he wasn't exactly uncomfortable in it either. The dark, the absence of light, the purity found within those hidden shadows, _that_ was where he was most at home, and most dangerous.

Chuckling at what his friends might think about the content of his musings, and their subsequent misunderstanding of this darkness of his, he snapped his eyes open and gazed out across his beloved city, their beloved city. All of his friends, his family, his hopes...

No, _their _hopes and dreams. Not his, never his.

He had found his own dreams, and had abandoned them without hesitation in favor of theirs, at least temporarily. Chuckling once more, he looked down and to his left to take in the puzzled look adorning his sister's face. Holding in another chuckle at her puzzlement, (hey, it was a beautiful day!) he gestured in a general motion, taking in... everything. Them, the road and hill, the guard railing they leaned on, the city laid out before them, and the picture it painted with the sun setting behind it, all of it was contained within that one gesture, and his eyes never left her face as he made it and queried,

"Sooo, it's a beautiful vista and all, but is there any particular purpose for us to come up here?"

His sister was nearly as much of a master actress as he was an actor, so even he had difficulty picking up the pain that flashed across his younger sibling's face. Of course, she immediately settled into a comfortable smile, and he understood.

She was happy, there was no doubt of that, but there would always be that hidden seed of discomfort, of isolation from the one whom she had modeled herself after. Karin had taken the loss of his powers harder than just about anyone, and taking up her brother's legacy as a substitute shinigami of Karakura, while no doubt fulfilling and good for her, had only exacerbated her own darkness. In fact, even with the smile brightening her visage at the moment, he would probably have strong doubts as to her contentedness if it weren't for their... companion.

A smirk adorned his face, seemingly in response to her own grin, as she responded,

"It's just, this place holds a lot of memories, eh, Ichi-nii? A lot of strong feelings, for both of us, are rooted in this street."

_Street light. Red hair. A name cried out. Blood and a white haori. The flash of movement and pain... so much pain_

Looking down quickly before flashing her brother another rueful grin at his raised eyebrow, she continued,

"OK, so probably not so much for me, but still, it brings to mind some strong emotions, powerful... feelings right Ich-nii?"

She tried her best not to let him notice her watching him carefully as she turned to gaze out over the magnificent view and lean against the railing, but while she might be able to hide from nearly everyone, she could never hide the darting eyes which continued to peer at him from around her now much longer black hair from her brother, or from the white haired captain currently standing with his arms around her and staring avidly, intensely, at the orange haired "human".

Schooling his gaze away from the young leader whom he already considered a brother, the former substitute turned away from his siblings and gazed out over the multitude of lives under his protection. And it _was_ under his protection. No need for secrecy would keep him from ending any foolish enough to present a threat to _his_ town that couldn't be handled by Karin or the local shinigami.

"Ichi-nii?"

Breaking his thoughts away from his shadowy guardianship, Ichigo Kurosaki turned back to his sister and broke his trademark scowl in exchange for another smirk in answer to her, and her compatriot's, questioning glances.

"Ya, I suppose it does Karin. There are a lot of good memories I associate with this view in particular, but places hold little meaning without the people who made them memorable."

Smiling in full at her now, he threw his arm around her, startling the heck out of the captain who leaped away and completely missed the slightly gleeful glint in the protective brother's eyes, and led his sister away into the lengthening shadows of his...their domain.

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><p><strong>Intrigued? lol, yes there will be ToshKarin, but it will be light and often doubted. There will also be hints of Ichiruki and UraYoru, but that is all they will be unless I continue MUCH farther than i expect, and even then I will give warning to those who ship others. R&R and thanks so much for reading :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey again, I noticed the word count on my prologue and realized that while it does most likely introduce the basis for the fic, it's not really something you can sink your teeth into, so im throwing this in before i really should as a little appetizer.**

**Im so nice. :p**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to R&R**

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><p><em>He's getting better.<em>

And he was. The young captain was tailing them most effectively, and if he had truly been attempting to hide from those he was following, Ichigo might have had a little bit of trouble locating him. Then again, who wouldn't get better with all the training those residing in soul society were undergoing. If what Ichigo had been hearing was accurate, then there had been some serious improvement in nearly all of the higher ranking shinigami with the last nineteen months of training, which had yet to let up. Plus, the prodigy was just that, a prodigy. Not to mention this particular shinigami's vested interest in the black haired girl at Ichigo's side.

_Note to self: loosen shingles above Karin's window and leave the hose running below it._

Sure, the captain would probably catch himself on air before he hit the muddy ground, but the thought was still funny as hell.

_**King, rain check on ruining the runt's day, the princess is calling you**_.

Trying not to scowl at the interruption to his entertaining plans for their stalker or at the hollow's seemingly never ending obsession with royalty, Ichigo turned his gaze from the street ahead of them back to his sister.

"Sorry, lost in thought for a minute there Karin. What did you just say?"

Said girl scowled slightly harder and pinched him in the side before settling back under his arm and saying,

"I _said_ that Captain Ukitake says hi, and sends his thanks for the ideas concerning his illness. Apparently while it is hard as hell to convert antibiotics into reishi without changing their structure, they have had some success, and Unohana is extremely hopeful that they might completely control his sickness in the future, if not cure it."

Ichigo's eyes widened slightly at the news, "That's great Karin! Why didn't you say so sooner?" This time she ducked out from under his arm completely to glare at her idiotic older brother.

"First off I _did _say it earlier Ichi-nii, you were just too high in the clouds for my words to reach you. Second-" At this the girl broke her glare and instead directed it into the sky away from her brother. Notably in the direction of their tail.

"I didn't want to... you know."

The seventeen year old's eyes softened at this and he walked over to his sister and placed his large hand squarely in the middle of her midnight dark tresses.

"Karin, you don't need to worry about bothering me with reminding me about all of that. I'm a big boy remember? As long as they are all ok then so am I. Besides, if you keep moping around like you are now, you'll never beat me back to the house, or arrive before Yuzu starts worrying about us _both_."

At this the younger sibling's head shot up to catch a flash of a full out grin on her brother's face before she too took off sporting her own grin and shouting,

"Oh HELL no! I'm winning this one Ichi-nii!"

It is fair to say that neither one could really be said to have triumphed after receiving such large lumps from the anxious cook's nefarious wooden spoon, but the delicious dinner awaiting them seemed a fine prize indeed, and the loud thump that Ichigo heard as he went up the stairs to his room that night proved a great consolation prize as well.

_**I don't care if he is a prodigy King, that kid's a lovesick moron whether or not either of them admits it.**_

He was wrong after all, the captain didn't manage to catch himself on the air.

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><p><strong>Yes, Your welcome.<strong>

**R&R and plz don't hunt me down for my arrogance lol**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again guys. Extremely rapid response, with first reviews in just a few hours, as a reward... HOLLOW ICHIGO!**

**(for about one line)**

**But anyway, R&R and i hope you enjoy!**

_Italic-Ichigos's thoughts or emphasis in normal speech_

_**Bold Italic-Hollow Ichigo**_

__**Bold Underline- Zangetsu/Tensa Zangetsu**

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><p><em><strong>OY! KING! Wake up you moron, we got work to do!-<strong>_

**Indeed, Ichigo, do not forget our task today**

Grumbling at both the evil orb of fire currently piercing his eyelids as well as the rude awakening from... himself, the young man sat up straight and sighed deeply before pointing his arms skyward in a deep stretch...and then promptly rolling down and off the bed in a crouch as his father flew overhead and out the window!

Completely ignoring the threat to his well being, Ichigo resumed his stretch as he grabbed a towel and began walking down the hallway. Bypassing the bathroom, he continued down to the farthest room on the right. Creeping the last few steps, he cracked the door ever so slightly, leaning his head in he checked on his little sisters. Yuzu, as always, was fast asleep and snoring as quietly as possible, as though even in sleep she sought to comfort those around her with the adorable noise. Ichigo's main objective however, resided on the far side of the room in the opposite twin bed.

A deep blue instead of the bright yellow of Yuzu's bed, it rested just below the window where the dignified, but unfortunate, captain of the 10th squad took a dive the night prior. More important than all of that though, the bed was occupied by but one person. _Good boy Toshiro, it seems you **are** still scared of me after all_. Smiling slightly at both of his sisters and the relief he felt, he eased the door closed and proceeded back down the hallway towards the bathroom, oblivious, or rather inconsiderate, of the hollow scream from outside and the subsequent cursing from both the blue bed and the now bare roof above Karin's window. _Hmm, so he was there after all. He's gotten better then I thought, but he still better **stay** up on the damn roof._

After showering and enjoying Yuzu's fantastic breakfast, Ichigo bid his family goodbye, including a farewell roundhouse kick to his father who had managed to find his way back to the house, and then proceeded down the street towards his job. Of course, he just happened to drop something on his way down the street that he had to turn around for, and his eyes most definitely did not rest momentarily on the empty roof over his sister's room as he turned around to retrieve his phone. _I guess Jii-san called him back then. Good. _

Smirking quite comfortably now at what seemed to be a relatively perfect day so far, Ichigo continued on his way. As he walked in the door to his workplace he dodged lazily to the left as a fist, notably his boss' fist, left a sizable indent in the wood door where his head had been. "Where in the world were you!" He simply raised his eyebrow at the obviously fuming woman. He had seen her mad before but she seemed beyond any of that at the moment. Her cap was crooked, her shirt was wrinkled, and her eyebrows seemed as one on her furrowed forehead.

"Right as we got busy, Right when we finally got a rush of customers, Right when we NEEDED YOU THE MOST you just up and LEFT!"

Nodding now with his new understanding , Ichigo calmly ignored the rest of the rant while dodging her flying fists. The onslaught continued for quite a while. Finally, since she showed no signs of tiring, he caught one of her fists in a raised hand and stopped it cold.

"Stop."

She froze. His amber eyes had suddenly opened completely and fixed themselves on her own, boring into her soul, dragging her down into-

He looked away suddenly, sighing. She collapsed, still with her fist in his hand, panting,_Great, I think I just scared my boss to death! _Catching her breath now, she looked up once again, eyes wild

"What in the world! How-"

"Boss"

Again, she shut up, suddenly calm. She couldn't help it.

"Look, I'm sorry I took off yesterday when you needed me here." His eyes, those incredible orbs met hers, no, dominated hers once more, "But my sister needed me."

And that ended it. Really. He held onto her fist but a moment more before releasing her fist and beginning to move around the small office and shifting the piles of papers here and there. Going about his job just like every other day, his eyes darted back to the woman kneeling on the floor every now and then. She remained that way but a few moments more before slowly rising, her eyes locked on the young man before her the entire time. Finally seeming to dismiss, or at least accept, the incident, the woman slowly moved over to her desk and answered the screaming telephone. It seemed to snap her out of it. Soon enough she was bustling around the office once more, shouting orders and generally being a dictator of her little world.

_Thank God, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with her there after I let my resolve become so tangible for a moment. _

_**Well king, you did get an absolutely priceless picture of her face, which I have already framed here in your memories by the way!**_

Ignoring the image of Tsuchiro holding up a framed picture grinning with a chuckling Zangetsu behind him, Ichigo moved quickly and efficiently about the office, finishing with his work as quickly as he could. After all, his real work began after this.

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><p>Eventually, by around ten o'clock, Ichigo had caught up on his paperwork and had begun simply waiting, along with his boss, for a call to come in. After a few minutes, he deemed his female overlord comfortable enough to approach, and stood from his own tiny desk. Her eyes immediately snapped over to him, and he winced at the depth of the emotion in her eyes. Fear? Anxiety? Uncertainty? Anger? All seemed present and likely to Ichigo. <em>Damn, guess I should have waited a bit longer eh?<em>

Steeling himself, he continued over to her. Gazing down at her he gave her his most comfortable smirk, and offered thanks internally at the slight easing of the rampant chaos within her limited riatsu. Gaining a little more confidence from the familiarity she spoke up,

"What is it Ichigo? You're not thinking of running off again are you?" At this her visage shifted definitively towards anger, and her gaze only darkened further when he chuckled.

"Actually, yeah, I am."

"WHA-!"

Holding his hands up in defense as she rose, infuriated, from her desk, he cut off the ensuing tirade. "Hey! Look, I've already finished my paperwork ok, plus its a weekday and business _will _be slow."

She sank slightly lower but did not sit. Ichigo eyed that gap between her derriere and the cushion like the distance to the finish line.

"Not to mention I'll have my phone with me."

It sank a little lower,

"And I'm not going far at all, just a few miles to an old friend of mine who wanted to talk with me for a bit about something important."

Glancing around his upraised hands, he witnessed her fall back onto the cushion with an outrush of breath.

"Alright, alright, I get it." She raised her own hands in defeat, "But!' At this her chin raised once more, "If you so much a feel a twinge of a _hint_ of a feeling that I _might _need you or call you, you _will _return, is that understood?"

Gazing into the determined gaze of his employer, Ichigo could discern the bewilderment still present there, as well as a resolve to move past the will shattering incident in the doorway. He couldn't help himself. He smiled.

"Will do."

Smirking now at her even more confused face from his sudden grin, he spun on his heels and began walking towards the door, pointedly ignoring the swirling chaotic riatsu surrounding the woman behind him.

_Alright "Old Friend", what the hell are you hiding from me this time?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again, I'm bored, so I'm going to stupidly use my second to last pre written chapter JUST to make you guys happy. Ya... sure. Let's go with that :p**

**Anyway R&R, and i hope you enjoy**

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><p>Walking down the street this time, Ichigo couldn't help but notice the signatures of several adjuchas class hollows flash into existence around town. <em>Great, just what I need. <em>

Frowning, he reached out with his indistinguishable riatsu and located the local shinigami. A fourth seat in the 7th squad, he would probably be able to delay one or two of them until help arrived, and maybe even kill one if he got really lucky, after all they had continuously posted stronger lookouts in the Jureichi since the incident with Aizen.

However, Ichigo knew that he had no hope of wiping them all out, let alone doing it before they managed to hurt anyone. Sighing for what seemed the thousandth time that day, Ichigo glanced around quickly, searching. _Where can I... There! _

Jogging over to an old bench in an alley he checked around once more to make sure he was alone, and then he sat cross legged on the bench and concentrated. Ichigo had long since learned to control his riatsu enough to contain it within himself to the point that he wouldn't dissolve the very fabric of the souls around him, but what he was about to do was damn risky, so he would take no chances. Feeling out the hollow riatsu in his town, he slowly disengaged his control over his power ever so slightly, struggling to allow but a tiny amount of the evolved energy to escape from his core. Finally, he got it.

That accomplished, he turned once more to the sources of malevolent energy, and _reached_. To this day he still cannot explain most of the concepts behind his hollow oriented abilities because of their instinctual nature, but the closest he could come to explaining this particular ability was as almost _tearing_ a hole twixt this dimension and Hueco Mundo. Carefully orienting his riatsu, the tool of his _tearing_, he unleashed the woven intent within it, and grinned broadly with his eyes closed as the rapidly moving adjuchas disappeared into the garganta he had formed almost a mile away.

Quickly releasing it with a sigh a relief, he repeated the gesture with three more of the five originl adjuchas, leaving what he had sensed as the weakest for the local shinigami to deal with. Finally finished and panting from the concentration required, he opened his eyes.

"Shit!"

The bench he was sitting on was smoking, and alleyway itself seemed... soft, and not ten feet away a small white cat finished dissolving into nothingness. Quickly reigning in the riatsu he had acccidentally allowed to leak in his joy at his successful manipulation of the adjuchas, he quickly destroyed the benched with a well place burst of riatsu, no evidence after all, and strode on down the street.

_Great, first the crap with my boss and now this! _What had started out as a perfect day only seemed to be getting worse, and he had a feeling it would continue.

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><p>"Oy!, Hat-n-Clogs! Get your butt outta that damn lab of yours and unlock the damn door!"<p>

Almost immediately the door slid open to reveal the geta-boshi in question. His fan was firmly in place in front of his lower face, and his attire seemed completely normal as well. Not a single fold of the strange haori and kimono was out of place, and the man had definitely not been in his lab. Ichigo had seen how he could get during his experiments. The greasy hair, the unwashed haori, the small of rancid meat, the...! Needless to say, it was too neat.

_He was waiting for me. _

"Well, well, well Ichigo-kun, whatever could make a famous hero like yourself feel a need to visit my humble shop. Why I can't begin to-" Ichigo met the shop keeper's worried eyes with his own.

"Kisuke."

Ichigo allowed the silence following his statement to stretch a while longer before continuing.

"Is Yoruichi here?"

Caution raged against curiosity within the riatsu of the man in front of him, and Ichigo was sure that he was being _allowed _to feel even that. _Sneaky bastard_

"Not at the moment no. Why do you feel the need to inquire after her, if I may ask?" The teen cocked his head at that. His eyebrow furrowing, he wondered,

_Was I wrong? That actually sounded genuine! Maybe he doesn't... No, he knows, he just wants to fish for how much I know, not to mention he probably still feels bad about leaving Yoruichi in the dark._

Looking into those devious eyes beneath the ridiculous hat, it was clear now the game the man was playing.

"You know damn well why Hat-n-Clogs, now open the basement and lets... talk. It seems you have been keeping some things from me."

At this the blond haired man in front of him let out a sigh and allowed his fan to drop as his shoulders slumped slightly. His smile seemed unbearably tired all of a sudden.

"You know Ichigo, you should let an old man have his fun sometimes."

Ichigo smirked at that, and it widened in response to the much more sincere smile which had spread across his mentor's face.

"I've experienced one too many 'headbands of justice' to let you run too wild." His smile turned devilish. "But I've recently had my own fun with a certain prodigy from SS, and I'm positive you'll want to hear about this one."

The fan resumed its position, but Ichigo could all but _smell_ the amusement oozing from behind the shopkeeper's fan.

_There you go Kisuke, you're not an old man just yet_

"Oh I guess I have no choice then Ichigo-kun. I do enjoy my gossip after all."

If the demonic sparkle in those intelligent eyes had been directed at him a year or two ago, Ichigo would most likely have been terrified or pissed. As it was, his grin just widened. He needed some new ideas for pranks after all.

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><p><strong>I seem to harbor an unexplainable hatred for endnotes at the moment. R&amp;R :)<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**I will continue to publish whenever i get the chance. But if a certain number above this(_cough_ review count _cough)_ should reach, oh , i don't know... 10? Then perhaps my updates would come sometime tomorrow?**

**Ha, anyway, R&R and i hope you enjoy**

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><p>Where exactly the shopkeeper had procured the items in front of him, let alone how he had managed to transport them down <em>here<em> of all places, baffled the orange haired high school student. Of course he never let it show, but still, props where props are due.

_Show off_

Sitting down at the aforementioned tea set and mats laid out ever so neatly in the vast wasteland beneath the Urahara Store, Ichigo finished his tale of the diminutive gotei thirteen leader's unfortunate tumble the night before to the sound of amused chuckles from the man now sitting across from him.

"I'm impressed Ichigo-kun, and you say you've been discussing what you would do to any boyfriends of hers with her _in front _of him?"

At this Ichigo nodded, now sporting a lopsided smirk of his own at the fond memories of the uncomfortable captain. His sister had helped too, she had thought it was hilarious, even though she assumed Ichigo was doing it on accident.

"Ha, well, other than asking her about how Young Toshiro is doing at the same time, I'm afraid I can't offer much more in the way of distraction for you... at the moment"

Both of the men chuckled at this, but Kisuke set his cup down shortly and looked down, casting a deep shadow across his eyes beneath that bucket hat of his.

"All fun aside Ichigo, why are you here? We may be alone right now, but this _is _a rather large risk."

Following his statement the geta-boshi raised his eyes to observe the teen across from him, fully expecting to see the young man engaged in one of his thoughtful silences that usually preceded most of their serious discussions. He was wrong.

Ichigo was staring directly at him, and he was allowing all of his resolve to destroy, mangle, and utterly annihilate anything threatening those he sought to protect to color his riatsu with absolutely no restraint. Urahara might not be able to perceive the substitute's riatsu in its currently evolved state, but the intent filling it was clear as day to the experienced fighter, and he was terrified.

Terrified is not the right word. Frightened, anxious, surprised, gobsmacked. They all fall short in attempting describe the depth of the emotion invoked within the man having his own will smashed beneath the force of nature before him, in part because they lack the necessary feel, or flow to adequately describe the intensity of his feelings, but mostly because, despite his trepidation, he knew and understood that Ichigo would do him no harm. And with that confidence, he held that amber gaze, marshaled his own will...

and quirked an eyebrow.

Reigning his emotion in slightly, Ichigo chuckled at the audacity and willpower of the man before him and explained.

"I just told you that I witnessed Toshiro holding Karin in his arms yesterday Kisuke. You know as well as I do that there is no way either one of them could come to terms with their feeling so quickly as to naturally progress to that already."

He shifted his weight to settle more comfortably on the mat beneath him and picked up his own cup of tea. Sipping it ever so slightly, he observed Urahara over the rim of the cup as he continued.

"Not mentioning the additional obstacles to such a progression in the form Hinamori Momo as well as the inevitable jibes he would suffer from Matsumoto, Toshiro is not so self knowledgeable, and neither is Karin."

Ichigo watched the slight breath of air escape from the man in front of him and nodded ever so lightly.

"Something caused this behavior Urahara. One of them, or more likely both, needed comfort and an assurance of the other's safety, and I want to know what caused that in my sister, who is one of the strongest people I know, and a shinigami captain with the strongest ice type zanpactou."

He set down his cup as he finished and watched Urahara gather himself. The man seemed tired all of a sudden, and Ichigo couldn't help but think back on the image he had been presented with earlier when Ichigo had called him on his bluff in the doorway.

_What is it I wonder, that this man, so strong in the face of so much, is reduced to such a state?_

Leaving such thoughts for a more appropriate time and place, Ichigo listened intently as Urahara began his own tale.

"Some rather... unsettling events _have _occurred in soul society as of late, and I suspect that they are the reason for the discomfiture you observed in your siblings."

Scowling at both the reference towards his feelings towards Toshiro, _Are they really that obvious?, _as well as the fact that Urahara had failed to keep him fully updated as he had promised, Ichigo observed Urahara fiddle with his spoon, unfold and refold his napkin, and even test the temperature of the contents of his cup. When the man began to whistle and look off into the distance, he could stand it no longer and growled,

"Urahara..."

The shopkeeper laughed at the young man's impatience, and his grin only grew wider at the disgruntled noise this provoked from the teen. He did stop his charade however.

"I'm sure you know of the conditions surrounding the the protection of royal artifacts, yes?"

Ichigo nodded and responded, puzzled,

"Ya, Old man Yamamoto is the only one who knows where they are hidden right? He keeps all the stuff like the King's key and seal hidden in some pocket dimension somewhere I assume. But I don't see how-"

He was interrupted by Urahara waving his hand impatiently,

"Yes, yes, if you would allow me to finish." Ichigo grumbled but allowed him to continue.

"As you apparently know, the Royal Artifacts are indeed kept within a pocket dimension whose entrance is a highly guarded secret. What I doubt you know however, is what else was kept in this 'storage facility' if you will."

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow of his own, puzzled. Urahara ignored his hanging statement and continued undeterred.

"Recently Captain Commander Yamamoto brought it to the attention of the captains that an attempt had been made to break into this pocket of space. Now, normally this wouldn't be cause for much concern other than the fact that someone had managed to find the entrance. While this is unlikely, it has happened before because of the distinctive appearance of the area surrounding it. However, what has even the Captain Commander up in arms is that the ne'er-do-wells in question _succeeded_ in entering the facility."

Ichigo's eyes widened at the revelation and he leaned forward slightly in his chair as Kisuke continued his story.

_I don't even want to consider the possible damage that could be done with just one or two of those artifacts, not to mention ones like the Kings key and seal!_

"Even more disturbing beyond their success is the conditions of it. For one, two people are required to enter the realm. One to maintain the gate, and one to enter and gather whatever is necessary. Second, both must have _at least_captain class reiatsu to withstand the defensive pressures and traps in place around the dimmension. This show of power is the reason for much of the unrest in Soul Society at the moment."

The shopkeeper chuckled internally at the complete lack of reaction from the young man at the information that two rogue, captain class enemies were abroad. Gathering himself for the finale he continued before the teen could object once more.

"But that is insignificant in light of the fact that they_ didn't take anything." _

Enjoying the look of pure, unadulterated astonishment bleeding across his pupil's face, Urahara continued.

"And do you, by any chance, happen to remember what artifact we recently asked to be hidden alongside the King's key?"

If it wasn't for his blood mist shield, Kisuke Urahara would probably be digging himself out of some rubble a good distance away at this moment. As it was, he continued sipping his tea as his shield finished disintegrating beneath the onslaught, and his friend calmed his reiatsu down.

"Well shit."

_**Very eloquent king. **_

_Shut the fuck up, you know as well as I do what he means you moron! _

Continuing to visibly calm himself, Ichigo reseated himself after his abrupt rise and brought his wild power under control, allowing the lights of the area to reassert their dominance, and his friend to finally release the fragments of shield left in front of him to reveal his nonchalant disposition.

Ichigo refused to let the man get under his skin.

"I'm assuming that we got _very _lucky, or they were _very _stupid since we're not both hunting them down right now?"

Urahara nodded and set his tea down to answer, impressed at the rapid control displayed by the young man.

"Indeed, it was having its sixth month seal renewed at the time of the break in, and since they took nothing, and it was the only inventory not present at the time, we must assume that the Hogyouku was the intended target."

Silence reigned in the underground chamber.

"I thought we would have more time, but I guess we were never that lucky, eh Kisuke?"

The shopkeeper matched the wry grin inching across his companion's face. Then, he froze, and Ichigo started sharply in response to the man's gaze suddenly shifting over Ichigo's shoulder into the distance... and towards the entrance.

"Kisuke! What in the world do you think you're doing down here with him?"

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><p><strong>You have three guesses and the first two don't count as to who this is. lol jk :)<strong>

**Remember to review if you can, and I look forward to reading some of the guesses that i hope to see soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Not quite as long as i had hoped, buuut you guys gave me the 10 reviews, and so I shall deliver. **

**Cliff hanger warning, I am not quite prepared to launch into the full storyline plot yet, so I have not inluded the full context of Urahara's schemes in this Chappy. He will drop a pretty nice bomb tho, so i hope to get many more reviews cursing my name or threatening me with many things i would rather not thing of.**

**Anyway R&R and i hope you enjoy! :)**

**Quick note, the reviewer, (IM SRRY I AM BLANKING ON YOUR NAME) who guessed Yoruichi...**

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><p><em>Yoruichi.<em>

Ichigo started slightly at the now pervading reiatsu of the pissed cat woman. He couldn't help it. Mentally scolding himself for the mistake, he glanced back up at his blond haired companion and winced at what he saw.

_Of course, I almost forgot. I'm so sorry Kisuke, but she can't know. Not now, not like this._

The tiredness in Urahara Kisuke's eyes had returned tenfold. He looked broken, and Ichigo mourned for him, his mentor, with all his heart.

The shopkeeper was no open book by any means. He had more secrets, and schemes, and crazy theories than just about anyone else in existence. Under ordinary circumstances, the weight of those hidden thoughts and musings would crush a man, but not Urahara Kisuke. He had a shield against that loneliness that pervaded the mind of every person that hides their innermost thoughts.

Yoruichi.

They had grown up together. They had trained together. They had fought alongside eachother for more years than Ichigo had even been alive by _far, _and Yoruichi had been the one to stand by him and save him whilst sacrificing her own freedom and following him into exile.

And Ichigo had taken that away.

This secret, or whatever one wanted to call it, could not be known by anyone but themselves, and it was tearing Kisuke apart.

However, Ichigo trusted his mentor to be strong, and he would _not_ let it all come to nothing now, when they were so close to being able to come out into the open.

Plastering a puzzled expression on his face, Ichigo queried,

"Oi, Hat'n'Clogs! What's with that look?"

It worked. Immediately snapping his broken stare away from the infuriated woman stalking towards them, the shopkeeper met Ichigo's eyes, visibly stilled himself, and then pasted his own facade, that grinning mask and fan, over his face once more.

"Well Ichigo-kun, it appears we have company, albeit very _angry _company."

Ichigo smirked a little bit and appeared to catch on as the woman, even further infuriated, increased her pace towards the pair.

"Let me guess. Yoruichi?"

Kisuke's grin widened as he caught onto Ichigo's game, and the teen allowed himself to feel relieved as he watched the emptiness fade from his mentor's visage.

"Indeed Ichigo-kun. I think perhaps we might be doing something she doesn't like, if her stormy yet beautiful countenance is anything to go by."

_Ha, well played old man. But I doubt that will save you for very long once she's through with me._

At this the female paused momentarily, her eyes narrowing at the comment directed more at her then the former substitute, before flash stepping over next to the Geta-Boshi. She ignored the man at her side. She had always enjoyed flattery after all, and his little comment had spared him... for the moment. However, at that point, all of her attention, and reiatsu, were focused on the human in front of her. Her eyes scoured his face, searching his visage for any hint of an acknowledgment of her spiritual presence. After all, why else would he be down here unless he had restarted his spiritual... "career".

But no. Nothing.

Ichigo forced himeself to train his eyes only towards the man now sipping his tea across from him. A few seconds passed. Then a few more as she relentlessly continued her study of Ichigo's face. Deeming it time to break off this uncomfortable investigation, Ichigo spoke into the rather awkward silence.

"Well, you're not half way across the city with Yoruichi hot on your heels, so I assume she wants something to do with me. Right, Urahara-saaan"

Drawing out the "saaan" with an upraised eyebrow and trademark smirk, Ichigo made his position clear concerning the shopkeeper's obvious fear of the purple haired woman, while watching out of the corner of his eye as the intense scrutiny of his face ceased.

_And now the fun begins_

"Oh, I imagine its more this particular cat's curiosity that is staying her finely sharpened claws from carving me up at the moment than a particular desire for _you _Ichigo-kun, although it most certainly involves you."

_Again, well played._

The cat in question had, in fact, actually stopped her hand just short of pounding the back of the Geta-Boshi's head at his words, and by the maniacally mischievous light now practically pouring from the man's gaze, he knew it.

Ichigo heard his zanpactou's sigh of contentment as the sun broke out through the clouds that had momentarily threatened to swamp his inner world. Watching his loneliness recede and once more seeing that familiar gleam in the strange man's eyes was heartwarming, when it wasn't terrifying.

"After all, for what possible reason could you, now a relatively normal human, be sitting down here, in a spiritual training room, with me, a humble, but again, spiritual, shopkeeper."

Yoruichi growled softly, recognizing the game for what it was and not enjoying it one bit. She kept her hand in place, a reminder of the delicate _situation_ the blonde man was in.

Chuckling slightly at his oldest friends antics, for that was what they were now that the full storm of her anger had passed, Urahara continued,

"Although I suppose it would be easier if I told both of you at the same time eh?"

At this, Yoruichi's scowl returned at the implication, and, with a huff and a puff of spiritual smoke, a physical cat appeared next to Urahara.

Ichigo, also startled at the slightly abrupt change in Kisuke's manner, didn't have to fake his slightly taken aback visage. Quickly adapting, he pretended to refocus on the cat in question he said,

"Hello Yoruichi, how's it going? I assume you _have_ been down here for the last bit of this idiot's ramblings."

Ignoring the teen for the moment, the feline stalked, with nose held high, over to the shopkeeper lap, crawled up in it and promptly laid, down. Urahara started to smirk over at his younger companion, but it quickly shifted to a slight grimace of pain as Yoruichi decided to... _tenderize_ her new bed with her "finely sharpened claws." She certainly did not want the man to forget her ire.

In her now deep voice she finally answered,

"Yes, I've been here for the last few minutes, and I must say, I am _extremely _interested as to why you are down here and just _what_ Kisuke here was about to tell you."

Her previously shut eyes opened and fixed themselves on the man across from her.

"And don't assume I don't know about your weekly updates with Kisuke here, I may not know just what he has said to you, but I do realize that both of you know more than you are letting on, so unless you would enjoy me sitting in _your _lap"

_I would not_

_**Depends king, Is she a cat or has she just transformed?**_

_I...You!…Damn. We'll discuss that topic later, for now, shut it._

"Then I suggest that you shut your mouth and let my good friend Kisuke here,"

His pained grimace told the whole story of the current activity on his crossed legs,

"tell us _exactly _what is going on."

Her tirade finished, Yoruichi seemed to settle down, and joined the properly chastised Ichigo in peering up at the shopkeeper. His sudden grin unsettled them both. They both had a terrible feeling about what was to come, considering the source.

"You see after the recent invasion of the Royal Archive, which both of you already know about"

Urahara's nod confirmed Ichigo's knowledge of the incident for Yoruichi.

"The Soutaicho aproached me with an interesting proposition. Since he did not trust Captain Kurotsuchi with the... delicate situation he came to me and asked for me to devise a way to transfer large, multi captain levels of reiatsu into a receptacle soul."

At the puzzled glances of his companions, his grin widened even further, and then he dropped the bomb.

"Simply put, he wants his substitue shinigami back, and he's offering reiatsu from all of the top ranking shinigami to do it."

_**I****n your words King, Well played**_

_..._**Indeed**_._

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><p><strong>I forgot, that last "Indeed" is Zangetsu, it was gonna be Ichigo, but I've had a little too much of the "Imma war hero mature thousand year old shinigami" Ichigo, and he needed a break from so <em>much<em> maturity, so it seemed better to have Zangetsu say it. **

**Also, I know that Yoruichi shifting into Cat form probably does NOTHING concerning her physical or spiritual state, i just didn't want to write in like three paragraphs about her getting a gigai, and i didn't want to cop out and not give the detail on it either. plus, this didn't destroy the flow of the conversation and the suspense and comic tension i was trying to build soooooo... there! (pout)**

**Anyway, R&R and i hoped you enjoyed it and my cliffhanger YAY!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I come bearing dire news. This... is a filler chapter.**

**I know! I know! and I'm sorry! Unfortunately, it had to be done, and I have tried my best to throw some humor in there as well to break up the fact tossing and dark scheming.**

**Anyway R&R and I hope you enjoy!**

_**Kvothe Arliden**_

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><p><em>One day I'm not going to be surprised at what he has to say, and his head is going to explode.<em>

_**As If!**_

**Unlikely.**

Ichigo scowled internally at his two zanpactou spirits, they were probably right, but still, it was the principle of the matter. They were parts of _his_ soul, and they were supposed to back him up damnit!

"Ichigo?"

Snapping back to reality and the _massive_ shit eating grin adorning the shopkeeper's face despite the claws digging into his thighs, Ichigo glanced downwards, still in slight shock, at the black cat. Her tail swished in indecision, and she seemed... uncomfortably worried. Noticing her expectant gaze Ichigo tried to respond.

"I'm sorry Yoruichi, I just...I-"

His mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried, unsuccessfully to catch on to Kisuke's game and determine just what in the _hell_ he was supposed to say. Finally, he settled, relatively easily, on plain shock and trained his gaze once more on the man sitting across from him.

"What?"

Urahara chuckled at the bewildered teen, but before he could explain once more, and in a suitably mocking way, Yoruichi cut him off. Ignoing the confused expression of her childhood friend, the feline spoke hesitantly. Treading lightly through a what she saw as a potential minefield, she began.

"Ichigo, I know that... I know that I for one would be thrilled to have you enter our world, this world, once more, and I'm sure that all of your many friends and companions in this world and the next would be as well. But-"

She broke off. Gazing at the ground now, she seemed to be trying to bring forth her next words carefully, as though they were the most fragile pieces of china, and should they fall from their pedestal, should they prove... inadequate, then the teen in front of her, as well as so much more, would be lost.

Finally steeling herself, the cat in question snapped her yellow eyes up towards Ichigo and spoke, still careful, but confidently now.

"Do _you_ want this?"

Startled slightly at the question, Ichigo began,

"I-"

Ichigo started to say yes. It seemed most appropriate after all. It was obviously what Kisuke wanted, if his shit eating grin was anything to go by, but he couldn't quite say it. Looking at his obviously worried and now unsure mentors, Ichigo could not help but hesitate.

_What should I do?_

Silence.

There would be no assistance from inner world this time. This was one more test in their eyes, and truthfully, they were probably as anxious to hear his answer as his other teachers, so, allowing himself to fall into the thoughtful silence that Kisuke had been expecting earlier, he pondered.

What now? What would this entail for their secret, their burden? The Soutaicho was a crafty old man, and had no doubt gotten hints about the situation. Problem was, if he _had _figured it out, what the hell was he thinking? That aside, what was _Kisuke_ thinking? They had protected his power for two long years, and now he was proposing that they throw all of that away, that they abandon what they had fought for with everything they had? Perhaps the burden of hiding so much had been harder on the shopkeeper then he had thought. Kami knew it was still eating away at Ichigo.

Breaking his musings for a bare moment, he glanced up once more at his friend. Taking in the man's visage he could not believe it. That this man had fallen beneath such a burden? No. His eyes and countenance were unsure at the moment, but there was a confidence, a surety, behind that gaze that denied any buckling of will. Tossing the possibility of weakness on his partner's part out the metaphysical window, he moved on.

Did Urahara have a plan? He certainly seemed to. He apparently had given this some thought, and he seemed to have come to the conclusion that this was the road they should take. Ichigo understood now why Kisuke's face was unsure. The only reason he had brought this up in front of Yoruichi, other than avoiding some obviously false excuse that would just piss her off even more, was his confidence in Ichigo. He had been positive that Ichigo would play along, that he would follow the older man's lead.

But could he do that? Following Urahara had gotten countless shinigami injured or killed, and had allowed a madman to take control of a godlike artifact. The man had secrets uncounted and no doubt had his own agenda playing out throughout all of this.

Ichigo rocked back in his seat slightly at the realization. THAT was the crux of the matter. Could he, Ichigo Kurosaki, place his trust, his confidence, his _life _and the lives of those he cherished in the hands of the man who had inadvertently caused the entire winter war?

He didn't have to hold back the smile which broke out across his face at the loud scoff resounding throughout his inner world. Looking back up at Yoruichi, he made his decision.

"Yes"

Sitting back on his mat, tea in hand, Ichigo couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from quirking up slightly at the scene before him.

Immediately after his announcement to accept the plan, Ichigo had taken in the relieved and somewhat joyous faces before him as Yoruichi slowly allowed her inner Matsumoto to take over. Shifting into a spiritual woman, sin clothes, she had promptly glomped Ichigo. Any spiritual viral creature could easily affect the physical world, and Yoruichi knew this. Unable to "see" the mounds pressed into his face, as well as the warmth spread over his crotch by the woman now in his lap, he had barely, just barely, managed to keep from outright staring by focusing all of his hate, rage, and embarrasment at the man dying with laughter across from him.

Luckily, Yoruichi promptly remembered her own anger at the store owner for his secrets, and had initiated the comedy currently unfolding in front of the now calm teen. Thanking the heaven's that Yoruichi was not currently sane enough to question his somewhat questionable reaction to her virility, He diligently kept his eyes trained on the Geta-Boshi who was throwing compliments, and other random objects, at his nude pursuer at an astonishing rate. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on the beholder, he couldn't keep the periphery of his vision completely clear of the nude goddess either.

…_**.Damn, just Damn**_

_Agreed_

Momentarily turning his attention from the mayhem in front of him Ichigo sipped his tea as he pondered the situation. Placing his trust in Kisuke had been the right thing to do, but that didn't mean he didn't want to understand what the fuck was going on. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite wrap his head around just what exactly his friend was planning. After all, this entire charade had been to make the soul reapers, and every other spiritual being, certain that he had absolutely _no _reiatsu. He could not allow himself to become a target for manipulation in the coming months, and-

_That's it!_

Smirking at the realization, Ichigo recalled what Kisuke had said earlier,

"_The Soutaicho has asked for me to devise a way to transfer large, multi captain levels of reiatsu into a receptacle soul."_

_Kisuke_ was building the means of transfer, and he no doubt had some tinkering in mind. Smirking ever wider, Ichigo realized just what the man had done. By giving the soul reapers a reason for Ichigo's reiatsu to return, Kisuke had created the perfect alibi for Ichigo to reenter the spiritual world _without_ revealing their secret. Kisuke would most likely make it so that the object, whatever it was, would allow Ichigo to put out a certain amount of normal, non-evolved, reiatsu, and then Ichigo wouldn't have to keep up this ridiculous charade of not seeing the world behind the world.

There were still problems of course. How the object would function, how he would limit his power output, how he would avoid the interest of any undesirables, if he needed it how could he use his power undetected, etc, etc. In fact, the problems were damn near insurmountable.

_**Psh, since when has any of that panzy bullshit stopped us King?**_

The smirk spreading across the teen's face would have done his albino aibou proud.

_Point taken, and besides-_

Ichigo chuckled darkly to himself, and this time it had nothing to due with the _physical_ pain of the shopkeeper.

_-We decided to "trust" Kisuke with this, so we can leave **Alllllll** of that to him._

Unsurprisingly, the cackle from his inner world didn't really disturb him as much as it probably should have.

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><p><strong>Yoruichi provides so many great opportunity for awkardness and hilarity doesn't she? Lol<strong>

**Btw the random tranformation is dedicated to...**

**MUGETSUDUDE!**

**I honestly had not thought of it, and while his secret cannot come out just, your suggestion inspired most of that scene, so I thank you!**

**Again R&R and I hope you enjoyed!**


	8. Chapter 8

**SOOOO. Im Back. Shocker I know. But I can't say Im sorry for being gone so long. I've got a life and it intervenes sometimes... deal. However, I do hope you continue to enjoy to story that I put out there, and I sincerely wish to put for the best product I can, so reviews are very much appreciated.**

**R&R and enjoy**

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><p>"So, when exactly is this transfer going to happen Hat'n'Clogs?"<p>

Ichigo couldn't stop the raised eyebrow as the bickering couple froze in their... unique position, but he did manage to quell the laughter threatening to surge forth upon seeing Urahara shoving his hat into Yoruichi's face from his place on the ground while she tried to claw his eyes out. Figuring that she couldn't see his reaction through the hat anyway, he thought that he had done enough.

Quickly composing themselves, Yoruichi transformed once more into her feline form and plopped herself down onto the scientist's shoulder as he took his seat across from the teen. Ignoring the virtual jailor resting on his shoulder, Urahara picked up his tea, somehow still upright through all of the preceding chaos, and took a long drink to apparently gather his thoughts. Neither of his companions bought the act, but they let him have his fun.

After a few moments allowing the tension in the air to thicken again, Urahara smiled and said,

"Tomorrow."

Ichigo would swear you could hear a pin drop in the ensuing silence. Marshaling his features into a more calm disposition from the admittedly shocked facade following his friend's announcement, he spoke very calmly, but he couldn't completely hide the icy fury beneath his words.

"Excuse me?"

Urahara winced slightly at his companions offended tone as well as the claws threatening to tear his shoulder out. Smiling sheepishly his answered the implied question with his eyes directed upwards, for once seeming to be a little out of sorts and unable to meet the teen's gaze.

"Well, I miiiiiight have just happened to, oh I don't know, have already accepted for you and started building the device... as of two weeks ago."

Ichigo couldn't help it. He stared. The idea that this man, who had already met with him twice before this since his apparent acceptance of this project, had kept this secret from him and had accepted for him to the sou-taicho long before telling him about _any _of this ridiculousness was... incomprehensible.

**And here you thought you had finally figured out how to read the bastard. King, you got played.**

Pondering his hollow's words momentarily, he managed to surprise both of his listeners in the outside world.

He started to laugh.

All of the scheming, the secrets, the hiding from those he most loved had hardened Ichigo into something new, but this humbling maneuver in which he was predicted so thoroughly, along with the idea that he wouldn't have to hide anymore, at least not everything, as of tomorrow broke something inside of him, and all he could do was laugh.

Rapidly regaining his composure, Ichigo continued chuckling under his breath as he took in the massive smiles that now dominated his friends' faces. Meeting their sparkling gazes with his own fiery orbs, he smirked and said,

"Well I guess I'll need to get my assignments ahead of time from Ochi-sensei, since Seretei has always needed me to pull their collective asses out of the fire before this, and I doubt that'll change now."

Standing abruptly, he waited a moment for Urahara to rise as well before beginning to make his way to the ladder. He was stopped however, by the sound of Yoruichi's masculine voice.

"What are you going to tell your family?"

This stopped Ichigo in his tracks. He had no doubt that Isshin and Karin already knew. She could get whatever she wanted out of Toshiro, and he had helped put his reiatsu in the device from the sounds of it. Isshin on the other hand had his own contacts in Soul Society, and was in close contact with Kisuke, so he probably knew as well, but Yuzu...

Yuzu knew quite a bit about the spiritual world now. She could still only make out hazy outlines, but she had been told of her brother's exploits, at least some of them, and had delighted in his return to home after the war. To take the return of her brother's attention and time away from her would hurt her deeply.

Ichigo raised his head from his thoughts and smirked. It might hurt her, but Yuzu was strong. She had responded the best after their mother's death, and she had trekked through the involvement of her brother and twin in the spiritual world with an incredible resiliency. Not to mention in the last two years she had grown into a fine young women that now not only had a heart of gold but an authoritative personality to back it up. Perhaps not on the level with Karin, but she still put the fear of Kami into all of them when they were late for dinner or got hurt.

Honestly, since she would probably be able to see spirits soon enough, Ichigo was more worried about beating off the potential boyfriends for the sister that was the spitting image of their mother with her long golden hair and already curvy figure. Normally he would leave it to Karin, she had been quite effective in the past, but now with Toshiro involved...

"I'm going to tell Yuzu she can't have a boyfriend till he's approved by me, and I'm going to tell Karin that if Toshiro wants to be a part of the family he needs to help beat off her suitors and keep both of them out of trouble while I'm not around."

Turning to look at Yoruichi over his shoulder, he gave her a bored look.

"That's it? That's all you're going to tell them? No, 'I'm sorry about leaving Yuzu' or 'I better not hear about any shit you've pulled in Soul Society Karin!'?"

He smiled at her amazed reaction to his nonchalance, and started walking back to the ladder as he answered.

"Naw, they're strong now."

He finished his smooth escape from the underground facility with a very clear vision of Yoruichi for once being the one stuttering after _him_.

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><p><strong>This will most likely be followed very rapidly by another chapter. I reread this story and it felt like another author's work, and I liked what I saw, so I am very enuthusiastic for the momet about this fic. Also, If I include any long notes at the beginning of upcoming chapters about the Hell arc, please read, it might be very important. So thanks for reading, don't forget to review, and check back in soon for another chappy. :)<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Like I said, I'm currently motivated :) but for those who wondered about Xcution, you will see the beginnig of them here. Hey will be in the story, but hey won't play anywhere near as big a part as some would probably like. Sorry (not) Btw,**

**IMPORTANT! I know many authors love to include the Hell arc in their stories. I personally love the idea of including hell in the spiritual world but quite simply the anime movie... SUCKED. The idea was good. Execution was shit. I don't care if you disagree, i am still depressed about how many plot holes go worked into tht one so i Don' wanna hear about it, and it WILL NOT be in this fic. I wish it could be, but i won't . I will NOT take up the task of filling all of those stupid anime maker's plot holes!**

**Anyway R&R and enjoy!**

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><p>Ichigo sat on his roof, just above his open window, waiting. Leaning back on his hands, he watched as the sun began to brighten the eastern sky, and he pondered what might happen in the coming day. So many variables, so many possibilities. So much danger for all involved should he or Kisuke fail...<p>

**Ichigo. How _do_ you plan on dealing with your "re-employment"? You will be supposed to act as though you haven't seen them in two years, and I'm sure you have noticed the differences in each of your shinigami associates.**

Ichigo sighed and leaned back even farther, staring directly into the still dark sky as the last of the stars began to fade into the light.

_I don't know Zangetsu. I'll probably just wing it. It's never failed me before, and besides, the ones that would actually notice will probably be as emotional as they expect me to be, so they won't see anything wrong. _

Closing his eyes to the reluctant murmur of assent from his zanpactou, as well as the sarcastic comments about his "acting" from Tsuchiro, he allowed himself to sink into a meditative, relaxed state to wait for the dawn.

"ICHIGOOOOOOOOoooooo...!"

And for his father to fly out the already open window trying to attack him.

Feeling sorry for whoever found the unconscious man on the street, Ichigo hopped down to the street level. He had already showered, and gotten dressed for school before he went up to the roof to wait for his old man, so he didn't bother going back to his room and just went straight into the kitchen to help Yuzu make breakfast.

As he walked up and started to wash the used dishes, he got a beaming smile from the surprised younger sister. After that, they worked in silent tandem, Ichigo cleaning up behind the now fourteen year old cook as she went through her morning ritual of making a delicious breakfast. They continued like this, Yuzu humming happily and Ichigo moving about with a small smile on his face, until Yuzu finished cooking. At that point she came over to help him with the remaining dishes. Turning down to focus on her work she spoke to him without looking up from the sudsy water.

"What did you want to talk about Ichi-nii?"

Ichigo's hands slowed to a stop as he regarded his sister, who never stopped washing. Surprise, happiness, and above all pride paraded across his normally placid face as he watched her work with such a calm and happy expression. That she knew he wanted to talk about something, probably bad, and just accepted it so easily... This is why she was the strongest Kurosaki.

"Yuzu."

Ichigo didn't need to stop her. His tone did it. She had heard that voice before. When he first came back from defeating Aizen, he had hugged her and told her everything, and then, in the very voice he was using now, one laced with regret, pride, sadness, and determination, he had described how Karin was probably going to take over since he had lost his powers and how he would need her help to support her like they had supported him. She would never forget that voice that shook with emotion and a resolve to obliterate mountains, so she stopped what she was doing, looked up at her older brother and his now melancholy face, and smiled.

"Yes, Ichi-nii?"

The smile nearly did it for Ichigo. He nearly backed out on the whole thing and told the spritual world to fuck itself, but then he thought of two raven haired girls so dear to him, and the strength this one had shown him and continued.

"After school today Hat'n'Clogs and some shinigami are going to give me my powers back. They need my help with something so I probably won't be here as much as I would like to beat back all the boyfriends your going to have. I want you to bring any boys you like to me before you start dating them ok?"

Yuzu's bright smile slipped a little bit as she observed the sad one adorning his normally callous brothers face. She understood what he meant. The unsaid possibility that he wouldn't come back, and the inherent danger that Karin would probably be subject to as well soon enough were very clear to the young Kurosaki, so she did the only thing she could. She smiled as brightly as she could, threw her soapy arms around her brother and said,

"I promise Ichi-nii."

Ichigo hugged her back for a moment and then, returning to his normal self, gruffly gestured towards the few dishes left. Yuzu let go with a giggle at his awkwardness and helped him finish up. A short while later, after some significant looks with Karin and his bruised father over a delicious breakfast, he left for what would probably be one of the last school days for a while.

Thankfully, none of his friends knew what was going on, even Ishida, so the school day was blessedly normal and uneventful. Ichigo basked in the peace and quiet, barring his habitual beat down of Keigo, and the day passed far too quickly for his liking.

At the end of the day, Ichigo bid his friends farewell for the weekend, telling them to meet him at Urahara's the next day for a surprise.

"I wonder what that meant..."

Chad just grunted to Orihime's unspoken question and began to move off. Uryu simply pushed his glasses up and said,

"Who knows, Kurosaki is too stubborn to tell us now though so we should probably show up just to figure out what he's up to now."

Orihime noddedly absently and then gestured happily for Tatsuki, who was silently fuming at Ichigo's too cool attitude, to follow her.

"Tatsuki you have just _got_ to come over and try this new recipe I found..."

Ichigo wasted no time after leaving his friends. Although he did chuckle slightly at Tatsuki's fate as he walked away with his bag over his shoulder, he quickly made his way towards the Urahara Shoten. When he was about halfway there, he happened to walk past the alleyway he had banished the adjuchas from the other day. Stopping to stare at the slight scorch mark where the cat and bench had used to be, he smiled at the thought that he would no longer have to sit in garbage filled alleys to protect his town. He would be able to go out and face his opponents head on, albeit limited, just like he liked it. With that positive thought in mind he quickly began to cover the remaining distance to the spiritual store with his chin high and his thoughts bright behind his ever present scowl.

Soon after his self imposed rest stop, his eyes narrowed slightly mid stride. Spinning on his resting foot, his left arm shot out and grabbed the fist currently propelling a knife towards his back, the knife sticking in between two of his fingers. He gazed down darkly, completely in control, at the dark haired man crouched behind him. He could sense the reiatsu of the guy, and waited silently as the man stood up and revealed himself fully, his hand still in Ichigo's grasp.

"I'm glad to see you haven't gotten rusty."

The confident tone and the small smile adorning the man's face prompted Ichigo to check him out more thoroughly. He wore a black leather jacket and had his long black hair slicked back, revealing a middle aged, if still vital, face that rested its gaze just as easily on the teen. He started to pull his hand back and Ichigo tightened his grip momentarily, prompting a surprised widening of the eyes from the mysterious man, before letting go. Looking down at his now bruised hand in surprise, the mystery man looked up and then held out his other hand to shake, his face now composed.

"Name's Kugo Ginjo, I think I might be able to help you. You seem to have... lost something recently, and I think I can help you get that something back"

A calm smirk now rested on his face as he stood, hand outstretched. Ichigo looked him up and down once more, noting the black card reading 'Xcution' in the hand held out to him, and then turned and began to walk away.

"Sorry Ginjo, I don't need the help of some former representative to get my power back. You need some high-powered idiot for whatever plan you got scheming, look somewhere else."

Ichigo stopped for a moment seeming to think.

"Oh, and remind Chad to come by the shop tomorrow. I know he won't forget, but if you remind him he'll probably remind the others too."

With that last comment Ichigo continued on his way. Leaving the stunned reiatsu of the former shinigami representative roiling behind him. Urahara had told him all about the man and his group of 'fullbringers', as well as the likelihood of them contacting him. Ichigo had asked Hat'n'Clogs to keep an eye on them to make sure Chad stayed safe, but had otherwise not interfered. It was his friend's decision after all, and Ginjo was more of a meddler rather then an actual threat. He simply resented Soul Society for what they had done, and that was understandable, but as it was he lacked the power to do too much damage on his own. Ichigo doubted that this would be the last he heard of them, but for now he was fine with them training Chad to get stronger.

Finally arriving at the shopkeeper's residence, Ichigo braced himself as he felt the reiatsu down below. Toshiro, Byakuya, Kenpachi, surprisingly, Renji, and... Rukia.

Ichigo smiled for a moment at the last, since he sense that she was holding whatever held the reiatsu of... ALL the captains and lieutenants!

_Shit! Even the sou-taicho threw his power in that damn thing!_

**Somebody wants their shinigami substitute back pretty bad, King. I think you made an impression.**

**What the hollow says is true. I doubt it was mandatory for the captains to put their reiatsu in. You do appear to have had quite the effect on the Gotei 13.**

Ignoring Tsuchiro's angry ranting about Zangetsu not using his name, Ichigo smiled at the thought that he had the support of all the high officers in Seretei. Pushing open the door, he made his way to the ladder and climbed down, ever so slowly without flashstep. Reaching the bottom he crossed to stand in front of Urahara and his father in their gigais, careful not to glance at any of the shinigami now arranged beside and behind him.

Meeting his father's gaze he said.

"I'm ready."

As a white sword burst through his chest.

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><p><strong>(Yes a sorta cliffie... wooptie doo. Im sure your used to them by this point lol)<strong>

**What do you think? Am I still on it or do i need to take some more time with editing and re-going over my new chapters? Input please :))**

**Review and I hope you enjoyed!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I will tell you guys now, I hated writing this chapter. Hopefully you won't be able to see any repercussions from that, but let me just say that mixing canon and my own plotline, while like 8 different people interact and have their own conversations in little groups with different subtle messages hidden beneath the yelling and brusquness of _cough_ some people freaking SUCKS! Especially when some of the characters i don't write well already!**

** But anyway, R&R an I hope you enjoy! :)**

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><p>Ichigo's eyes widened as he stared down at the sword tip poking forth from his chest. His mouth hanging open he reached down and grasped the pure white weapon, free of his blood but full of reiatsu, with both hands before raising his eyes to meet his father's.<p>

"Why d-?"

"Turn around Ichigo. You should be able to see them now."  
>At his father's words, and seeing the smile on his face, Ichigo turned his head to look over his shoulder and met those same violet orbs that had given him his greatest gift so long ago. A small smile crept over his face as he took in his partner, lieutenant badge, short hair, and all. Then he spoke, the same smirk as that day now resting below his confident amber eyes.<p>

"Hey, shinigami."

Rukia's purple eyes sparkled brilliantly as she met his smirk with one of her own and said.

"It's not shinigami. I'm Rukia Kuchiki."

Abruptly both she, her hands still on the magnificent sword, and her orange haired partner were consumed by his yell and a pillar of reiatsu. The black and white tower screamed towards the ceiling of the world and then spread out in an ever widening spiral, darkening the sky over the observing captains.

When the sky finally began to clear, and the reiatsu began to drain away from the two, all those present looked on with smiles as the two, in each other's arms, began to come into sight through the dust and smoke. They broke apart long before they were anything but shadows amidst the chaos to the onlookers, but every one of those watching knew that they had witnessed something miraculous by the identical smiles resting on each of the two shinigami, yes _two_ shinigami, now standing next to each other before them.

After the dust was finally blown away by a pulse of Ichigo's new reiatsu, he looked down at his body on the ground, and frowned, his snarky comment on Rukia's new height and badge stopped in its tracks. Eyes narrowed and growling softly, he said,

"Oi. Hat'n'Clogs. _Why_ exactly does my body still have a hole in its chest?"

At this, all the shinigami present, including Ichigo's father, turned to Urahara with expectant, slightly angry gazes, Ichigo's new look completely ignored. The shopkeeper merely waved his fan in front of his face and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Why, Ichigo-kun, because you were just stabbed of course!"

Silence...

"Are you telling me that I just killed him."

Normally, hearing the terrifying voice of Unohana Retsu coming from the diminutive Kuchiki would have garnered some interest from at least a few of the shinigami present. As it was, no one so much as blinked as the two partners, as well as Renji and Toshiro, took angry steps towards the Geta Boshi.

"Oh hahaha, of course not Miss Kuchiki. He is merely having a _near _death experience at your hands!"

Waving his fan and smiling even wider, he took a step back as the pissed off listeners began to advance towards him. As they neared him, he opened his eyes completely and said, much more normally,

"He will be fine of course. Unless you all don't trust his will to live."

At this, there was an audible sigh of relief from several of those present. One notable exception being Ichigo, who joined Rukia in shooting one final glare towards Urahara before turning to the assembled Captains and Lieutenant.

Rukia gave Ichigo's hand a final squeeze and a smile before returning to her Kuchiki facade and joining her brother at his side. As soon as she turned to face the renewed substitute, her mask broken only by an ever so slight upturn of the lips that was mirrored on her Nii-sama's face, Ichigo bowed deeply.

"I want to thank you, all of you, for returning to me that which I hold so dear. The ability to protect those I care about under my own power is something I will always accept, and will seek to use to the best of my ability."

Standing up straight, he gave them all a cocky smirk and continued.

"And considering the news I've been hearing, it sounds like I'm going to have to save all your asses again, huh?"

The reaction was instantaneous. Byakuya's hand went to his sword, Rukia's foot went straight to his shin, Renji's growl could be heard in the shop above, and Toshiro's frown reached paperwork levels...Kenpachi just grinned even wider and gave a short laugh.

"You moron! Show some damn respect! I thought for a moment there you had learned to be polite, but I was obviously mistaken you overgrown strawberry!"

The 'fun sized' woman's tirade was met by a hopping Ichigo, holding his leg and hissing in pain.

"What the hell Rukia! Why the hell did you have to go and kick me like that you goddamn midget! It was just the truth and you know it!"

Ignoring the continued bickering and yelps of pain coming from his sister and the orange-headed moron, the elder Kuchiki turned, along with his lieutenant Renji and Hitsugaya-taicho, towards the still grinning shopkeeper. Eyes and face blank, he asked,

"Urahara Kisuke, does Kurosaki know of the former substitute Ginjo?"

At this Kisuke slowed his fan down until it was almost motionless, his eyes darkening as he met the cold gazes of the commanders before him. Having some idea of the motive behind the question, but still having trouble believing they would even need to ask, he answered,

"As I have been making almost weekly reports to Ichigo-kun at his request concerning spiritual matters, he is quite aware of Ginjo's position and possible motives. May I ask why this is a necessary question?"

Completely ignoring the shocked look overcoming Isshin's face at the revelation of his contact with the substitute, the exile watched closely as the Kuchiki alone of the three shinigamis remained motionless at the subtle jibe. Renji visibly flinched, and the guilty look crawling across the young prodigy's face spoke volumes. Byakuya began to answer the inquisitive exile, but was cut off before he could start.

"He's asking because the old geezers back in Seretei are worried about his loyalties!"

Byakuya's glare could have killed a lesser man, but the bloodthirsty captain of the 11th continued like nothing had happened. His gruff voice easily reaching them from his new position behind the group.

"The old farts wanna know if Ginjo has told him about the stupid surveillence, and whether he'll split off."

Kenpachi scoffed at the idea he seemed to be proposing before shaking his head, bells ringing.

"Ichigo may be a fighter and an asshole, but he's a pretty smart asshole, no way he hasn't figured it out by himself right now. No clue why their questioning the kid's loyalties though. Ha!"

With that final comment and a satisfied nod, Kenpachi turned away from the small group he had walked up on. Presumably to try and return to his division.

At this Isshin, who had stayed silent to that point, scowled pointedly at the implication that his son might turn on them. Ignoring the stern gaze of Isshin and glaring for a moment longer at his fellow captain, Byakuya quickly composed himself and turned back to the now serious Kisuke. Bowing so slightly it was almost imperceptible to the elder Kurosaki in apology, he continued for the berserker,

"Indeed, what Kenpachi-taicho said is accurate if... lacking in certain details. The leaders of soul society have instructed us to inform him of the former substitute and the continued surveillance through his badge if he didn't already know, and observe his choice. If he chose to side against the Soul Society, we were to eliminate him. No more."

Now meeting the steely eyes gazing at him from behind that ever present fan, Byakuya, along with his two companions, raised their heads and waited. Urahara hesitated a moment longer, trusting Isshin to stay silent, before answering the unspoken question. His voice low and emotionless, he answered,

"Ichigo did indeed realize that something was wrong with his badge early on, when it failed to garner any sort of respect or recognition from the stationed shinigami. He quickly came to the conclusion that it was something along the lines of what you have just stated and questioned me concerning its use just recently."

At this point, his stern look faded slightly and an amused chuckle escaped his lips before he continued,

"And you know what he did Bya-boy? He-"

"Laughed."

All five turned to look at Ichigo, quickly taking in his bored look, and sad eyes. They were quickly hidden behind a smirk, but everyone present noted them as he continued.

"I laughed my ass off because Ukitake-san acted so guilty when he gave it to me, and it finally made sense. He's too kind to be asked to do stuff like that you know? But anyway, Ginjo approached me this morning."

Even Byakuya's eyes widened slightly at this and Renji and Toshiro both began to speak at once.

"What did yo-"

"How did-"

Ichigo cut them both off, smirk even wider,

"I basically told him to shove it. I've got nothing against him, maybe even a bit of sympathy, but I've got no grudge to hold and I refuse to help him with his against those who allow me to protect what I care about...Idiots."

Renji's sigh of relief was audible to everyone present, and while Byakuya turned his chastising gaze towards the now sheepish Lietenent, the easing of the posture of all three was quite evident. Almost immediately, Toshiro turned and joined Kenpachi several paces away where he had been impatiently waiting. Holding Hyourinmaru out in front of him, he thrust it forward, into the world between worlds, and twisted, opening a senkaimon.

"Captain Hitsugaya? What are you doing? I thought-"

Rukia outburst was quickly answered by the pipsqueak in question. He turned away from the gates, through which Kenpachi had already passed, and answered her coldly.

"Lieutenent Kuchiki, our orders were to observe Kurosaki Ichigo's choice and react accordingly. Nothing more. We are finished here."

Turning away once more from the chastised and slightly torn Rukia he began to walk through the senkaimon, followed by the rest of the shinigami. After he, Byakuya, and Renji had gotten through, he was stopped when Ichigo spoke out in a deadpan voice. As though he were stating a fact, Ichigo said,

"Toshiro, You hurt Karin and I kill you."

The white haired captain spun around angrily and started to say,

"That's Hitsugaya-tach-"

When he finally comprehended the words spoken. His face drained of all color and his eyes widened as he started to speak and reach out his hand...

To the closed gates of the senkaimon.

On the other side of the now closed gate, Ichigo smirked and shared a look with Kisuke about his little threat, before turning and looking down to where Rukia still waited, apparently torn with some decision. Finally appearing to make her choice she looked up quickly, a smile on her face, and said,

"It's good to have you back strawberry."

Ichigo returned the smile quickly and met her playful gaze with one of his own.

"It's good to be back, midget."

With that comment, she turned and quickly opened her own senkaimon, striding through immediately. There was silence for a moment, then,

"MY BOY'S FINALLY A MAN! Such a touching moment with my third daughter, boy! I'm proud of you for-!"

Interrupted by Ichigo's foot in his face, the teen continued like nothing had happened, his leg still raised and in position.

"Oi, Oyaji. Sorry I didn't tell you about meeting with Kisuke, but I've gotta wait around while he fixes-"

At this he glared at the smirking shopkeeper.

"-the hole in my chest. So head on back and let Karin and Yuzu know how it went. I'm sure Yuzu's anxious, and Karin will be as well, she just wont show it. She wanted to be here after all."

Allowing his foot to fall back to the floor, he was met by the serious gaze of his father. Isshin's eyes were narrowed and they cut back and forth between Ichigo and Urahara.

_What the hell? What's he so suspicious about all of a sudden? Did I say something or did something happ-_

**King you MORON! Since when do you call Urahara _anything_ other then Hat'n'clogs or Geta Boshi! Throw that in with the recent info about your meetings, and even the old goat's gonna get suspicious you idiot!**

At this Ichigo internally broke out into a sweat. Fighting to hold his bored look and his father's gaze, he waited, praying desperately for Isshin to just accept it as a consequence of his meeting with Urahara each week that he was acting more familiar with the man.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting to Ichigo, and, unbeknownst to him, Kisuke as well, Isshin's gaze returned to it's normal laidback self and said.

"Will do son. I'll let your sisters know."

Not bothering to throw another ridiculous comment his son's way, he utilized shunpo to disappear from the underground facility. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ichigo turned to the shopkeeper and grinned.

"So, assuming you _do_ know how to fix my body, how the hell does this thing work?"

After saying this Ichigo tugged open his Shikausho and gestured to one of the bands of black material that formed a cross pattern across his chest, as well as the ones on his arms and neck.

Urahara just smiled, fan waving, and gestured for Ichigo to follow him up into his shop.

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><p><strong>AWKWARD! Sorry i just didn't enjoy this chapter as much as I should have. Blending Cannon and my own story so closely sucks! I don't know how many times I changed this one around, but I hope it's ok. If you think it isn't, send me a flame, thank you for your review, and fuck you. I spent way too much time struggling with this one to deal with flames this time. Sorry. LOL<strong>

**But anyway, I will be greatly diverging from Canon at this point, even more so than before, so let me know how you think it went. I need all the help I can get. so remember to review, and I hope you enjoyed. :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys. I'm back for a bit. Bout to head out to college, but I'm still on break so I figured I'd fill your time and mine with a few Chappy's. Hope you enjoy. Please R&R, I can never tell if I'm back in the groove immediately, so feedback will be double appreciated :)**

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><p>At Urahara's suggestion, Ichigo followed the former taichou back to the base of the ladder and flash stepped up into the small shop alongside his mentor. Continuing into the back room in front of his lab, Urahara seated himself on a cushion and waited for the substitute to arrange himself across from him. When Zangetsu was set aside and Ichigo had gathered his tea from hands of the ever polite Tessai, Urahara set his own newly filled cup aside, smiled brightly and said.<p>

"It's a seal."

…..Silence.

Finally, the teen couldn't take it anymore and responded to the grinning shopkeeper, hand itching away from his cup and towards the zanpactou leaning against the shoji doors beside him.

"What **kind** of seal Hat'n'Clogs?!"

Ichigo's now furious expression slowly slipped away and was replaced by one of curiosity and resigned frustration as the blonde across from him raised his finger to his lips and began the hand seals for a bakudo of some sort. Realization dawning, Ichigo reached out with his senses as Urahara finished the final seal in his incantation, and he felt the pulse of reiatsu move away from the shopkeeper and fix itself to the walls of the room.

Smirking at Ichigo's impressed look, Kisuke elaborated.

"I'm sure you are quite familiar with Tessai's and Yoruichi's habit of eavesdropping, not to mention Jinta-kun and anyone even **remotely** related to you, so I have specially designed this room to act as the borders for a noise cancelation kidou that should allow us to speak about your stylish new outfit in relative privacy."

_I'm sure Tessai could get figure out away around this, but he's too polite to so obviously disregard Urahara like that, but..._

Ignoring the obvious pride in his fashion sense that the shopkeeper was exuding, Ichigo took in the sudden lack of sound coming from the rest of the shop. Normally, he could always hear at least some sort of activity, whether it was Jinta sweeping or even a car moving down the street outside the alleyway where the shoten was located, but there was nothing from beyond the room they were sitting in. Remarkably enough, even with his more developed sensing abilities, Ichigo could not find even a trace of the spell that now resided in the edges of the room, and the kidou had not hampered his ability to reach out and sense beyond those walls at all. It was a fine piece of surprisingly subtle work, even for Kisuke.

_Dang, so maybe Tessai **couldn't **get through it. If only because he couldn't find the damn thing._

"Color me impressed Kisuke. That's an extremely well disguised Kidou."

Casting a slight smile at Urahara, the teen quickly regained his serious expression and continued.

"Either way though, I need to understand the limits of the seal before I do anything. I get in enough trouble as it is without adding ignorance of my own seal into the mix, and considering the fact that the Gotei-thirteen are probably going to send someone to brief me about the Vandenreich tomorrow, I need to know **now.**"

Ichigo punctuated his statement by setting his cup down and meeting the shopkeeper's now serious gaze with his own. Urahara may have been a several hundred year old god of death, but Ichigo had done and seen things no teenager should ever have had to, and he was well aware of the guilt Kisuke still carried over the destruction of Ichigo's human normality. He himself thought the Geta Boshi and Rukia were being morons, he chose it after all, but if he needed to use it to give the man a kick in the butt to get him going, he would.

Unable to meet the unnaturally mature and haunted expression coming from his friend, Urahra looked into his own tea and took a deep breath before responding with a smirk.

"Simply put, I gathered the reaitsu so generously donated by the Soul Society, and I fashioned it into a rather elaborate seal. It is focused in the X across your chest,"

He indicated the cross in question with a wave of his ever present fan. He then continued as the teen inspected the black, clingy material.

"In addition to the central seal, it is extended into several connected, yet completely compartmentalized sections on your wrists,"

He gestured once more,

"As well as around your neck."

Ichigo inspected the material in question as Urahara sipped at his tea. They were definitely not uncomfortable, he could barely notice that they were there. However, he could feel the almost **sucking** action on his reiatsu from his chest and extremities. After a moment of using his senses to probe the seal on his chest, and a few thoughts about the mouths on the inside of Kenpachi's eyepatch, he noticed something rather strange and his gaze shot back up to meet the smug looking countenance of the man across from him.

"Ahh, I see you've noticed. I'm rather proud of that you know. I have successfully managed to use to seals as… converters of a sort. The power that is sealed away is allowed to remain in its evolved state and thus undetectable by any save yourself and my own equipment which I constructed with your own assistance. However, the seals force the reiatsu that is exuded to be emitted in a less evolved, and thus able to be sensed, form."

_Shit, I thought I was done being so impressed by Kisuke's work, but he's really outdone himself._

**Indeed, taking the time to devise a device that would work so well on a reiatsu he can't even understand is a true show of the man's devotion to you Ichigo. You would do well to remember that.**

_Of course Zangetsu-Ossan._

Ichigo started to smile a little and actually praise the man for once but was cut off by Urahara

"Unfortunately, the power required to make that conversion is quite…. extensive. I understand now why you couldn't simply keep your reiatsu sealed and unevolved."

At this point Urahara met Ichigo's confused look with a deadly serious one of his own and continued in a low, flat voice.

"I have designed the seal with those smaller sections so that you can release only a small portion of your reiatsu at any one time if you need or wish to, but if you release any two of the extremity seals together, or the chest seal, your reiatsu **will** return to its evolved state. The lessened seal simply won't be able to handle the load if you release more then one cross at a time, and I'm sure you are well aware of what that means."

The teens visage had quickly shifted from puzzlement to deathly serious, and he responded with a curt nod. Waiting a moment to allow the tension of the conversation to pass, Ichigo relaxed his countenance slightly and asked.

"I understand that, but how **do **I release the seals?"

Before the man could respond, and ignoring the chuckles of his inner spirits at the memory, Ichigo quickly inserted,

"And I swear, if you try to tell me that I have to proclaim some shit eating nonsense about a 'seal of justice', I will shred every hat you own and shove the pulp so far up your ass you'll shit **stripes** for a month."

Clutching his beloved hat in mock terror, Urahara quickly retaliated,

"Of course not! I would **never** do that to someone who is such a dear friend to me!"

**_Bullshit!_**

_Damn straight. Stupid Geta-Boshi._

Ichigo simply continued to glare, he would **not **smile dammit, as the shopkeeper eventually relented and chuckled his amusement.

"Don't worry Ichigo-kun. All you have to do it touch Zangetsu to the seal in question and channel your evolved reiatsu through the cross in two quick bursts. Like this."

Urahara raised his own cane, concealing Benihime, and touched the tip to his teacup. He then channeled two quick bursts of reiatsu to the china. The first from himself, and the second was directed directly through Benihime. Returning his zanpactou to his side, he elaborated.

"While you can force the seal by channeling evolved and unevolved reiatsu to it at the same time, the result would at the very least by uncomfortable when the two came in contact, so I would recommend using Zangetsu as the 'key' so to speak, unless it's an emergency."

Ichigo nodded in understanding at the explanation. Reaching behind him to grab Zangetsu and test it for himself, he was stopped by Urahara's hand on his wrist. Looking up at him with a question in his eyes, he let go of Zangetsu's hilt and waited for Urahara to explain.

"I'm sorry Ichigo, but considering the potency of your reiatsu, I have my doubts about how well this little room will be able to withstand it, especially considering how much it will jump right after you release the seal, so you will forgive me if I attempt to preserve our 'quiet room' from your more…. destructive attributes."

Urahara smiled widely as he released Ichigo's wrist and continued.

"But of course I would be happy to allow you to use my amazing, super awesome training room to test out your 'newly restored' powers!"

Unable to help himself, Ichigo let out a short laugh at this and made to stand.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks Kisuke. This means a lot to me."

Ichigo finished standing and strapped Zangetsu on behind his back as Urahara responded with a soft smile on his face.

"No thanks needed Ichigo. Happy to help. Especially if it will speed things along."

Waving off Urahara's significant look at his last words, Ichigo turned to head out the door. His hand stopped before it reached the handle of the shoji doors, however, and he turned to look over his shoulder and meet the shopkeepers gaze with his own.

"Kisuke. Thank you. For everything."

With those words, a short pulse of reiatsu burst out from the substitute, and suddenly sound was restored back to the room. Finishing his reach for the door handle, he continued with a smirk,

"And my control isn't **that** god awful anymore."

**I beg to differ Ichigo. You know as well as I do that if you reiatsu was fully released you would never be able to repeat that act. **

Yeah I know Ossan. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it.

Leaving a wide eyed gets boshi behind him, Ichigo left the doors open and continued out the front doors of the shop, ignoring the creepy chuckles coming from his soul. He wanted to test out his new hardware, but his family came first. Always.

However, before he could exit the building, he was caught short by Kisuke's shout.

"Your body should be fully recovered in the side room behind the front counter! Oh, and Ichigo-kun, you will have to come back here to get it restored! Once it's off, it's off!"

Ignoring the confused look from Jinta at the last words, Ichigo simply waved an affirmative back over his shoulder to denote his understanding before walking into the back room and slipping into his body. Stretching it out and feeling out all the kinks it had accumulated, he pondered Kisuke's last words and continued on his way home.

_That's a pain in the ass. I don't want to have to come back here everytime we release a seal. _

_**Maybe aibou, but if we actually need to release any more reiatsu then you have now then I doubt we'll be needing to re-seal ourselves anytime soon. You may not have noticed, but Hat'n'Clogs still left you an assload of power out in the open. Bet he couldn't seal it all. HA!**  
><em>

**Agreed, but we might wish to finally pursue knowledge of the demon arts. If we could learn to re-seal ourselves it would be quite beneficial, not to mention filling the holes in our combat ability at the moment.**

_I'm with you two. I still think it's gonna be hard as hell to learn kido, but it couldn't be worse then that hell Urahara put us through to learn control..._

_Shit._

Leaving his musings on his upcoming training in the shinigami demon arts, Ichigo allowed a smile the find its way onto his face as he walked down the street. He was looking forward to immersing himself back into the spiritual world, even with the storms on the horizon. Plus, he could help protect Karin and everyone else in the light of day now. He had hated watching her fight after all, even with how proud he was of her.

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><p><strong>So a little more insight into the situation as well as Ichigo's abilities. He may have damn good reiatsu control, but our stubborn substitute still hates Kidou. Or rather he just hates the idea of having to learn it lol.<strong>

**Anyway don't forget to R&R, and I hope you enjoyed.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys. I know it has been awhile, but my uploading is going to be erratic for a while. College is...hectic and Soccer is not helping with my schedule. But anyway, this is mainly a filler chapter, but I did really enjoy writing it. It's a little short, but the emotional drain from all of the different character perspectives as well as the fact that I'm writing this at 3 in the morning has me exhausted and just unable to continue. Plus, as you will see at the end, the stopping point kind of just wrote itself. **

**Anyway I hope you enjoy. Please R&R Flamers will be cursed out, but your criticism will still probably help :p**

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><p>"I'm Home!"<p>

Opening the door, Ichigo quickly spotted Yuzu laying out the last of the dinnerware on the kitchen table. Beaming, she said,

"Welcome back Ichi-nii! Dinner is ready-"

only to be interrupted by Isshin, who flew from the bottom of the stairs in a kick, screaming,

"Ichigoooo!"

Cursing under his breath, the teen quickly dropped low, allowing his father to pass over his head, and then turned around, shut, and locked the door behind him. Kicking off his shoes and setting his school bag down. He looked up to find Karin already pulling out her chair and Yuzu frowning at him.

"You know he's just trying to bond with you Ichi-nii. You didn't have to lock him out!'

At this Karin scoffed. Cutting off her brother, she told her twin without ever looking up,

"It's not like it'll keep him out anyway. He needs to grow up already!"

Ichigo scowled a little at the thought of his immature father, and not all because of his 'welcome'. He was used to that.

_He's going to ask questions Ossan._

**And you will answer them to the best of your ability. Don't doubt over something so trivial as this.**

Scowling even further at this, _Trivial?!, _ Ichigo tried to smooth his face over as he sat at the table.

"Sorry Yuzu, but you know how he is. He expects it at this point."

Mollified, the small Kurosaki nodded and took her own seat at the table. Once they had all started to dig in, without their father, she looked up at her brother and questioned,

"So Ichi-nii, how did it go?"

Ichigo started to reply, but before he could get the words out of his mouth, Yuzu sat forward in her seat and continued, smiling,

"Was Rukia-nee there?! Did you get to talk to her?!"

Chuckling at his sister's enthusiasm, he swallowed the curry he was working on and responded with a slight smile.

"It went fine Yuzu. They surprised the crap outta me with how they did it,"

At this he put on a scowl for their benefit. He had after all watched the whole thing play out. He was as far from surprised at the time as could be.

"But it all went pretty smoothly. And Rukia _was_ there. She was the one who actually gave me back my powers. Kinda takes me back actually."

Smiling at this, Ichigo watched as his little sister's eyes went wider. Noticing that even Karin had leaned towards him from her food a bit at the mention of Rukia, he continued before Yuzu could throw any more questions at him.

"And she just said that it was good to have me back. Then the little midget kicked me in the shin."

Watching Karin choke out a laugh over her food from the corner of his eye, Ichigo watched Yuzu's smile widen, and then diminish.

"But did she say anything else? Did she ask about us or say why she couldn't at least come eat dinner with us since she was here?"

Sighing mentally at the fact that the chibi's violence didn't even faze his little sister, Ichigo answered quickly to assuage her fears.

"No, no. We didn't really have much time to chat. She was there with her superiors, and they were under orders to return. She couldn't come, even though I'm positive she would have loved to come see you two again."

Karin scoffed at the notion that she wanted to see the shinigami again, but her smile told a different story. Yuzu, for her part, simply frowned and then brightened again.

"Well that's ok. I'm sure she will be able to come see us again now that you have your powers back, right Ichi-nii?"

In response to this, Ichigo sighed and set down his utensils. Looking over at Karin, he said in a far more serious tone,

"Karin, pay attention. I have something important to tell you both."

Waiting for his dark haired sibling to turn his way, he nodded to himself when he had her attention and then set his chin in his hand. Contemplating his words for a few moments, he looked up from his plate to find both of his sisters watching and listening carefully. They knew him well enough to know when he was serious.

"Yuzu, this doesn't matter as much for you, but you need to understand it as well. I haven't been as removed from the spiritual world as most thought. I have been getting updates from Hat'n'Clogs, and while Karin has been watching over the town and flirting with Captains-

This garnered a blush and a glare from the sister in question.

"Some foul stuff has been brewing. There are enemies far beyond just the everyday hollows, and they have been stewing for a hell of a long time. The crap that went down between me and Seretei with Aizen has… stirred the pot, and with the shinigami weakened like they are, those enemies are going to start moving. I'm more involved in this then I would like, and I doubt either of you will be completely isolated from the fallout."

Here he paused, turning to look directly at Karin,

"However, I do not want either of you, _Especially you Karin_, to try to get involved in this. The powers that will be thrown about are _far_ beyond what you can handle. I'm sure that both of you will be quite strong on your own someday, and I will try and keep you in the loop, but for now, if I hear so much as a whisper that _either_ of you has been going behind my back to find out about this or to try and 'get in on the action', I swear you will see a side of your brother you have never so much as glimpsed."

Karin, not surprisingly, spoke up at this.

"That's not fair Ichi-nii! I've been watching this whole damn town while you couldn't, and Toshiro has been training me! I can handle it! Don't just try to wall me off and put me up in your little ivory tower because I'm your sister dammit! I'm not Yuzu! I can protect myself. I-"

"Karin."

She froze. She had never heard Ichigo speak like that, and looking into his eyes, feeling this reiatsu, she was, for the first time in her life, aware of just how strong her brother was.

"Like I said Karin, there are going to be powers there that you cannot handle. Even Toshiro, who you are well aware is far stronger then you, could not hope to deal with some of the shit that is going to go down. There are things going on around us that not even dad, or some of the captains, are aware of. I'm glad you're getting stronger, but _you will die_. This isn't some practice where you have a Toshiro ready to step in if it gets ugly. It isn't a god damn game. This is going to be war."

Turning away from the terrified Karin slightly, he tilted his head in Yuzu's direction,

"Furthermore, if you ever call your sister weak again, you will be trained by me, and you _will not_ enjoy it."

Eyes wide at the implications in her brothers voice, Karin glanced over at her twin, only to see her sister hanging her head, her bangs loose and shadowing her eyes. Speaking quickly, Karin said,

"Yuzu, I'm sorry. I-"

"It's OK!"

Yuzu brought her chin up, a bright smile on her face, and looked at her two siblings.

"I know I'm not strong like you two are, and I'm ok with that. I will do my best not to make you worry, either of you, so please, _please_, stay safe."

With that Yuzu stood up to gather her plate, looking every bit the happy little sister. A nice, bright smile fixed in place upon her face. Karin and Ichigo both saw the single tear glistening on her cheek however.

Ichigo spoke first.

"Yuzu, go get a bath. You need it."

Smiling at her now he said,

"And Mom would be proud of you. You're wrong. You are the strongest of us."

Blushing at this, Yuzu just shook her head and threw her plate in the sink before rushing up the stairs. The smile on her face much more substantial in the face of her brother's praise.

Yuzu taken care of, Ichigo turned to the distraught Karin. The smile dropping from his face, he stared her down, examining the confused and guilty look on his little sister's face. Sighing tiredly, he shook his head slightly and simply said,

"Go on Karin. I've made my point, and you and Yuzu will need each other here soon, so go patch things up."

When she sat, frozen, for a moment longer, he quirked an eyebrow and continued.

"I'm not mad. Well, I am. But I understand, so go on. Yuzu is waiting no doubt. Plus-"

At this he turned away from her and settled further back into his chair.

"Otou-san and I need to have a talk."

Sitting but a moment more, Karin started from her seat with a hurried, "Sorry Ichi-nii", before following her sister up the stairs.

Leaning back in his seat even further, Ichigo tilted his head and stared at the ceiling, searching for answers.

_He was listening Ossan. I didn't notice until too late, but he's going to want even more answers now_

**Don't wallow in the past Ichigo. Look forward. He's a good man. I'm sure you can work this out with him.**

A scowl fixed on his face, Ichigo turned his head slightly towards the living room and spoke in a quiet voice.

"Come on out Tou-san. I know you were listening. I'm sure you want some answers."

Stepping around the corner of the doorway leading to the family room. Isshin moved towards the table with his face frozen in a Byakuya-esque mask. Taking Yuzu's seat across from Ichigo, he stared at his only son with absolutely no emotion on his face.

"Talk."

Ichigo, now staring at the ceiling again, simply scowled further and waited. A frown now working his away onto his face, Isshin sat forward in his seat and said,

"Damnit Ichigo, I'm your father! Not only do I find out today that you went behind my back to talk with Urahara, but then you start all this hinting about other foes and information that not even I and the captains know about! I understand I'm not exactly your confidante, and I regret that to some extent, but I feel like I'm entitled to at least a _little _information here!"

Slowly leaning forward in his chair, Ichigo brought his gaze down from the ceiling and met his father's angry glare with and absolutely rock solid one of his own.

"Since when has information sharing _ever _been important to you, father?"

Ichigo practically spat the last and watched as Isshin flinched away from him. Dropping his gaze and shaking his head, Ichigo continued quickly,

"I'm sorry Dad. That has nothing to do with this and I'm sure you have your reasons for not explaining to me, but all of this just has me stressed out."

Bringing his eyes back up to meet the now inquisitive orbs of his father, he allowed Isshin to glimpse for a moment how truly tired he was. At the gasp from his father, he went on,

"Yamamoto knows. It's mainly just some details about the enemy that will be told to everyone soon enough, as well as some finer points of the politics surrounding my… _position_ and the higher ups. I'm sure you will find out everything eventually, but the information is sensitive, and it's not really my story to share. I'm sorry I didn't let you know about my meetings with Urahara, but there was a reason for them, and I hope I will be able to tell you about it soon. However, for the time being, other then telling you that the Vandenreich is stirring, which I'm sure you have already been told, I can't tell you anything more then that."

Finished with his rant, Ichigo stood up from his seat, leaving his concerned and puzzled father sitting behind him, staring at the table in front of him. Ichigo walked to the base of the stairs, but before going up he turned and looked back over his shoulder, a smirk fixed on his face, and said,

"By the way, _you_ get to do all of the cleanup tonight."

Hurrying up the stairs, Ichigo left his father behind, confused out of his mind and cursing at his asshole of a son.

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><p><strong>Like I said, wrote itself. :p Plus the day is ending and they are all going to bed soooo... lol But I hope to start action, the kind that I am sure you all are craving I'm sure, next <strong>**choppy. Either training or the bad old Quincies showing up. Not sure yet. I want the training in there, but Yamamoto's bankai is so kickass and i want to get to that quick... IDK **

**But I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter, please point out any mistakes as this _was_ written in the wee hours of the morning, and don't forget to review!**

**Kvothe Arliden**


	13. Chapter 13

**Longest Chapter EVER! Haha, i am kind of excited about this chapter. Ichigo's maturity takes a few shots, so prepare yourself :p**

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><p>Ichigo didn't sleep that night. Oh he tried, tossing and turning for almost two hours before simply staring at the ceiling for another hour and a half, but in the end, his heart and mind were simply drowning in too much turmoil to allow for the relaxation of sleep.<p>

_This is pointless, _he thought.

**Agreed.**

Denied that first gate of the mind, he smiled at Zangetsu's brusqueness and instead turned to distraction. Leaving his body motionless on his bed, he proceeded quickly to the roof and adopted the pose that had consumed almost three solid months of his life. Once he had gotten comfortable, he laid Zangetsu's new form across his lap and sought the peace of mind that had escaped him earlier in the night.

Now, instead of trying to ignore the issues dragging him down, he sought them out, tracking them across the landscape of his psyche and forcing them to the forefront of his mind. Each and every one of them, his concern for his sisters, the necessity for secrecy, the fight with his father, not to mention the coming war, was torn from its hiding place, and tossed into the flame of pure _will_ that Ichigo had formed within the blackness of his psyche. Once all had been faced and laid to rest, for the moment, he found what he was looking for. The darkest part of the shadows that consumed his mind and reiatsu, the center of his mind now stood out starkly in the absence of the chaos that had consumed his mind earlier. Focusing on that single, darkest point, he allowed himself to let go of his final ties to the outside world, touch, sight, sound, and even smell, before falling into the blackness.

He opened his eyes to look upon a world of towering sky-scapers, seemingly endless skies, and the storm clouds filling them. Scowling at the state of the weather, he looked around, expecting his eyes to fall upon at least one of his partners almost immediately. He was disappointed however. He couldn't find either of them anywhere in the vicinity. Scowling even deeper, he reached out with his mind and reiatsu to find that of his partners. Almost immediately he encountered the familiar storm of power that he associated with his zanpactou and hollow, and they were together, but between them there was...something. His scowl now etched onto his face, he grabbed hold of his partners' essences with his mind and _pulled_, completely expecting them to appear. This was _his_ soul after all, but he was even further surprised when he found himself being jerked along. After an initial moment of disconcerting realization, he allowed the movement to continue, and a moment later, he found himself standing at the top edge of one of the innumerable sky-scrapers that dotted the landscape. Peering along its length, he let out a huff of disgruntled realization at the situation. Shoving his hands in the pockets of his pants, he saw no need for his shikausho at the moment, he strolled towards the far end of the building with his scowl locked in place. About halfway down the edifice, he stopped and allowed his gaze to rest on the two inhabitants of his soul.

"You could have warned me you know."

There before the teen stood his partners, behind a huge semi-translucent barrier and chained to the bottom of the building where it met the street. The barrier and chains appeared to have been fashioned around the idea of a normally oriented inner world, and the bubble seemed to focus around the center point at which the chain was attached. If the Inner world _was_ oriented normally, this would have allowed for quite a bit of movement, but as it was, the two avatars were limited to the single building.

"True, but then we wouldn't get to watch you flounder about when you first got in here."

Grinning at his own joke, the hollow stood at the very end of his chain, so close to the barrier he could almost touch it if he stretched out his albino hand. In contrast, the older, more composed half of the zanpactou stood upon the rod to which the chain was attached much as he had stood on the numerous flagpoles throughout the city. His cloak fluttered in the strong winds coming from the storm clouds above, and his gaze was hidden behind his shades as he sighed at his counterparts antics.

Striding forward, he elaborated on the true reason for their silence concerning their predicament.

"Ichigo, despite the fact that we could have told you of our situation, it seemed... unnecessary considering the fact that we could never have described it adequately, and you would have then had to come and see it to understand anyway."

Nodding at Zangetsu's explanation, his nature was to be extremely practical after all, Ichigo raised his left hand and placed it on the barrier in front of him. Frowning, he leaned forward to let his weight press against the wall. It held for a moment, bowing under the pressure, until suddenly, with his frown even deeper, Ichigo gave one last shove, and he slid through the wall, leaving only a ripple in the momentarily liquid barrier.

Lowering his hand to put his hand back in his pocket, he raised his eyes, bored, to his two partners.

"So this is how Kisuke's seal affects you two huh? Oh well. Can I release either of you two enough to spar, or is the barrier not able to withstand something like that?"

Finished, Ichigo waited patiently while his partners deliberated for a moment. Just a few seconds later, a huge grin spread across the hollow's face, and a smirk could be seen decorating the visage of Zangetsu. Not wasting any time, the albino spoke up quickly,

"Well aibou, you see that little stake over there?"

At this he pointed to the rod which Zangetsu was perched upon. Not waiting for his wielder's acknowledgment, he continued,

"Well this whole bubble thing is being produced by it. Its leeching the power it needs from us-"

He shook the chains to demonstrate,

"And is using it to project this wall-thingy here to shield the rest of the world from our strength."

The hollow stopped to grin at the mention of their power, egotistical maniac that he was, and Zangetsu grabbed the chance to continue where he left off.

"If one of us were to more directly feed some of our strength into the focal point of the whole barrier, namely the rod, then most likely we could easily expand the size of the barrier to include a large enough area for the other to spar with you."

Nodding his head once more at Zangetsu's level-headed explanation, Ichigo gestured with his left hand towards the chains.

"I'm assuming the chains will extend as well?"

Zangetsu merely nodded his assent.

Comfortable with the plan, although a little peeved at the limitations the seal was already putting on him and his training, Ichigo focused his reiatsu towards Zangetsu, giving him the power he needed, as well as his own attire. Quickly, his normal clothes morphed into that of his shikausho and Zangetsu's shikai form materialized in his hand. Scowling, he turned to the hollow and said,

"Well since Ossan is tied up at the moment, it's just you and me this time. I'm feeding some of my power to Zangetsu to help make up for it, and I'll stay in shikai. I want you in bankai, and I want to see those horns."

For the first time since entering his inner world, Ichigo bore a striking resemblance to his hollow as a grin stretched across his face. As the bubble expanded, the hollows own smirk grew into a maniacal grin of his own, and, not bothering to even respond to Ichigo's taunt, he flew at his weilder, Tensa Zangetsu in hand and a cero forming between his horns.

Ichigo had left his window open again for his father. But this time as the light of dawn began to break over the buildings of Karakura, instead of flying through it, Isshin stuck his head out and turned to look up towards the roof. Confirming the presence of his son's reiatsu above him once more, he nodded to himself and quickly hopped onto the window sill before making his way up to the roof via the drainage pipe. Once up on the roof, he dusted his clothes off before raising his eyes to locate the teen. When he spotted Ichigo, his eyes softened in the morning light.

Ichigo sat just as he had first settled almost seven hours earlier. Seeing him in the Jinzen position, and understanding that he was training himself even now, as evidenced by the rips and tears in his shikausho, tore at Isshin's heart. He knew that word of some old quincies would never have been enough to drive his son to such lengths, and he desperately wanted to understand just what was bothering his oldest child so much that he spent his night like this. He had confronted Ichigo the night before, and what had happened between them still frustrated and confused him to no end. He was used to having all the secrets after all. But between the look that Ichigo had given him the night before and... _this_, he made the decision to trust his son. It was the least he could do considering how little Ichigo had demanded following the revelation of his own powers.

Decision made, Isshin hardened his gaze and took a step towards his son to rouse him from his trance, but he was interrupted before he could take another.

"Took you long enough old man! You've been standing there for almost five minutes!"

His eyes still closed, Ichigo turned his head towards Isshin before snapping them open and gave him a weak glare. Sighing at the stupid grin already making its way across his father's face, he closed his eyes and stretched his arms high over his head. Working out the stiffness with a few cracks and pops, he worked his way to his feet. Ignoring his father completely he hopped down to his window, and slid into his room to get ready for the day ahead.

Mouth slightly agape that he had been ignored so completely when he had obviously wanted to talk. Isshin shook his head slightly, as though clearing it, and let a familiar smirk work its way onto his face.

"huh, Oh well, guess he's still annoyed."

He knew though. If Ichigo had known he was there the whole time, then he had stayed sitting to make a point. Whatever was coming was serious, and while he couldn't tell Isshin what exactly was going on, he needed his father to understand that.

Letting his goofy grin take over his face once more, he jumped off the roof to go wake his daughters. Ichigo had made one thing clear. Karin wasn't ready to handle whatever was going to happen, and Isshin would be damned if his negligence let another one of his family members get hurt.

Ichigo let his head thump back against the closet door. He was sitting with his hands on his knees on the floor outside of Rukia's closet. He hated having to hide shit from his family. They were his bastion, his lifeline after all, but he just couldn't get them involved yet. If it leaked that he still had his powers, his _real _power, they would immediately become a target, and if he wanted to help in soul society with the Quincies at all, then he couldn't be worrying about his family being hit while he was gone.

Feeling the approval from his partners at his reaffirmed resolve, he squared his chin and hopped up. Opening the closet, he caught the screaming plushy midair as it tried to leap out the window to freedom. Not even bothering to respond to the muffled yelps and complaints coming from the stuffed animal, he popped Kon out of the toy and slid the pill into the mouth of his body. Flaring his reiatsu slightly and letting his killer intent slip a bit into the glare he threw Kon to ensure that the idiot understood not to make to much trouble, he slid his window back open and dove out into the early morning. He had already spent enough time reflecting over his problems, and he had made his decision. No need to think any more about it. Flashing into a shunpo that Yoruichi would have been proud of, he shot off towards the store.

Settling down in the front yard of the store amidst a small dust cloud, Ichigo let his clothing settle while he took a glance around. Surprisingly enough, he didn't see Ururu or Jinta around anywhere. Shrugging it off as another one of the dramas between the two and Tessai, he smiled slightly at the two familiar reiatsu signatures he felt inside the shop. Not bothering to check it any further, he quickly made his way up to the door. However, right as he opened it, his smirk was wiped off his face by a,

"Hado number 4! Byakurai!"

Tilting his head quickly to the side, he watched with wide eyes as the little lightning strike sped past him, singing a few of his hairs, and blew a hole in the wall hiding the store from the street. Turning back to the inside of the shop, his gaze was met with two shinigami. One was tall, redheaded, covered in tattoos, and trying desperately to cover up his laughter. The other was short, with violet hair, and the tips of two of her fingers were pointed right at Ichigo with their tips smoking slightly. Ichigo took note of the expression on her face and quickly raised his hands in front of him, his scowl deepening,

"Ok, what the hell Rukia!? I don't know what I did, but that doesn't mean you should try to blow my fucking head off!"

The midget in question simply matched his scowl with one of her own while she let her outstretched arm fall back to her side. When she spoke, it was clear that she wasn't repentant at all.

"You're late. Renji and I have been waiting."

Turning to the still red faced Renji, she jumped up and smashed her fist into the back of his head, knocking him flat to the floor.

"And I have no idea what you think is so funny Renji."

With that, the tiny little whirlwind of mayhem and destruction turned on her heel, and strode off into the shop, presumably to enter the training room. She left behind her a groaning lieutenant, a bewildered Ichigo, and, as usual, a smirking Kisuke.

Not even bothering to stop and ask Kisuke what the hell was going on, or help Renji, Ichigo quickly stepped over the muttering heap on the floor and past the shopkeeper. Renji was fine, and Ichigo knew that if he asked Kisuke he would just end up having to deal with his know it all attitude, and he would come out of the conversation not having learned anything at all. This in mind, he decided to go straight to the source of his confusion, the she-demon. He could feel her agitated reiatsu even now, that was how he had dodged the Byakurai after all, and he had a pretty good idea what was bothering her. If he was wrong, well, he could still try to settle all of this down. However, right before he stepped into the room containing the trapdoor to the basement, Renji spoke up from his position on the floor.

"You really don't want to go down there right now Ichigo."

His hand on the shoji doors in front of him, Ichigo turned and look over his shoulder at the red head. Renji was sitting up, holding the back of his head, but his gaze was dead serious. Even in the face of Ichigo's scowl his eyes never wavered as he continued.

"Just let her throw some kidou around and cool off before you try to talk to her. She's not in the best way at the moment as you can tell."

At this Ichigo scowled even harder and bit out.

"Are you an idiot pineapple!?"

At this Reji's look transformed into one of confusion, then swiftly indignation. He raised his hand to point at the rude strawberry in front of him and tell him to fuck off, but Ichigo didn't give him the chance.

"Just reach out and feel her reiatsu damnit! She might have been all huffy and puffy up here in front of us, but right now she's down there sobbing her eyes out, or close to it, and I'm sorry if I doubt that throwing some kidou around is going to help her 'cool off' if she's like that you moron!"

Ichigo held Renji's confused glare with his own furious one for a moment, expecting Renji to show some sort of shame, or at least embarrassment at his misstep, but Renji just sat there, staring at him with the absolute weirdest expression on his face. At that moment, his partners decided to pipe up.

_**Oi, King. You are an idiot you know that? Where exactly is the little ice hime at the moment?**_

Ichigo was confused for a split second before he put two and two together. Rukia had left and gone to the training basement before letting go of the hold on her reiatsu. She had gone to the basement. The basement that was lined with Seki Seki and through which he shouldn't be able to sense her.

_Shit._

_**Understatement Aibou. But I'm glad you understand how stupid you are now.**_

Quickly deciding to just roll over the issue and ignore Renji's confusion and Kisuke's now extremely evil looking expression, Ichigo did the best he could to keep his internal musings from showing on his face as he turned away from them and stepped threw the shoji doors, slamming them shut behind him.

Mentally cursing his haste when it came to Rukia, he threw open the trap door as he considered ways to explain it. He had a pretty good chance to get away with the stunt he just pulled with Renji. It was Renji after all, and Kisuke already knew, but still, he didn't want the pineapple to go all jealous on him, or worse yet, go crying to Byakuya. Mentally shrugging his shoulders and doing his best to ignore his hollow's cackling at his misfortune, Ichigo put Renji our of his mind for a bit and focused on the matter at hand.

Rukia.

He didn't want to know why she was there. He was sure Hat'n'Clogs had predicted his desire to learn Kidou, and had said something to the Old man to get the two lieutenants sent to "provide adequate protection and training for our asset the substitute" or some other bullshit like that.

No.

What he wanted to know was why she was so upset. Now that he was in the basement, the vibrations, almost sobs, in her reiatsu were even clearer, and it was both confusing and driving him crazy. She had been checking in on him, no doubt against her orders, almost every week since he lost his powers, and he knew that it was most likely bothering her just as much as it was him that they couldn't interact. For her to be this depressed when they could finally talk and be together again...The first possibility he thought of was that something had happened with Byakuya, but he just couldn't think of anything that the ass on a stick could have done to make her this upset.

That left only one option, she was feeling guilty.

_Stupid self-loathing midget._

_**The ice witch does like to hate herself.**_

Silently agreeing with his partner, he ran through the list of things she could be feeling guilty for. The list was nearly endless, it _was_ Rukia after all, but it most likely had something to do with him and his powers. Taking into account the fact that there was a war coming, and that she most likely only found out since she was here last time, his money was on her being ordered to secure his aid in the upcoming conflict, and she was feeling guilty about tearing him away from his human life again.

Typical.

Finally reaching the end of the basement housing the violet haired lieutenant, he noticed that her reiatsu had calmed significantly, and was only shaking ever so slightly now. He had forgotten that he could be sensed now with Urahara's seal in place. Stepping around the boulder hiding the midget, he saw her standing, looking off towards the far end of the training basement. A mask frozen on her face which would have made her brother proud. She didn't turn to look at him, but he could still see the trail her tears had left on her cheek.

Sighing mentally, he went and stood silently next to her, matching her gaze towards the back end of the facility. After a few moments just standing in each other's company, he decided to break the silence surrounding them.

"You know, normally it's you snapping me out of a funk midget."

Ichigo kept his head facing straight forward, even as he saw her turn towards him out of the corner of his eye. Now that he had broken the silence, she spoke quickly, her mask cracking ever so slightly.

"Ichigo, I... I am here to inquire-"

Ichigo cut her off with a large hand placed on top of her head. Turning to meet the now confused, tear streaked face looking at him, searching, he answered the unspoken question.

"Please, you know I'll help Rukia, and I'll be glad to do it. I won't regret it, and I sure as hell don't want to see you beating yourself up about 'ruining my human life' or some other bullshit like that. I want this."

Smiling as as he used to do only for his family, he met her gaze with his own warm look, and watched as her Kuchiki mask slowly crumbled. As he looked on, she slowly leaned forward, shading her face from his probing eyes. Beneath his hand, he felt a tremor pass through her body as she let out some of the guilt she had pent up.

Eventually determining that enough time had passed, her ruffled her hair to gather her attention, and, his trademark smirk in place, said,

"Besides, I definitely don't need some midget's stuck up older brother coming after me for making her upset!"

Chuckling despite her tears, Rukia visibly gathered herself, wiped a hand across her face to clear it... and lashed out in the way that was most comfortable to her, kicking the substitute square in the shin.

As Ichigo made a big show of hopping around and cursing about stupid violent midgets, he took a good look at the chibi in question. She was standing tall, and now her own confident, bossy smirk was back in place. She probably still didn't like that he was getting pulled into their problems, but she would deal. He would make sure of it.

"You deserved it you Baka. Show some respect for your betters and adress Nii-sama correctly for once! And I am not a midget! You're just freakishly tall!"

Her pride and facade back in place, Rukia stalked off back towards the ladder where Urahara, Tessai, and Renji's reiatsu had just descended.

Smiling at the restored Rukia, Ichigo couldn't help but agree with Zangetsu.

**Our partner is so fragile, but she is strong in ways that are hard to understand.**

_Yeah. Rukia is a pretty rare kind of person._

Plastering his scowl back in place and letting his reiatsu run a little wild to keep up appearances now that Rukia had her wits about her and Renji was down there, he followed after the little terror to find out just what Urahara had planned now.

Tessai was a sadist. There was simply no other way to look at it.

For the past six hours, Ichigo had been bound and hit with more high level Kidou, both bakudo and Hado, then he could even begin to count!

After the Ichigo and Rukia had joined the trio at the base of the ladder, Renji had eyed Rukia up like a man sizing up and large grizzly bear and trying to decide whether he should run or just accept his fate. However, when it was clear that she had regained her composure, evidenced by her,

"Just who the hell are you staring at Renji?!"

Renji had shot Ichigo a look promising a future interogation, and Urahara had explained his little plan of horror.

Since Rukia and Renji had already received at least basic kidou training, and were both lacking in either brute strength or in finesse, Urahara would be taking them separately and pitting them against each other, with him throwing a few blows in himself every now and then, to try and help them balance each others' strengths out. This was mainly to help Rukia train against a bankai, but the variety would probably help expand Renji's arsenal as well. This plan, however, left Ichigo alone with Tessai, which he had been ok with.

He no longer liked this plan.

At first Tessai had simply outlined the incantations and explanations of the first few bakudo, saying that with Ichigo's rather volatile reiatsu, it would be better if he learned the less destructive spells first before moving on to hado. Again, the orange haired teen had been alright with that, but it was what came after that first hour and a half of tutoring that had him hating Tessai and Urahara more then ever. In order to practice his newfound knowledge, which consisted of several binding or shielding techniques, Ichigo would abandon his zanpactou, stand in place, and let himself be BLASTED by the kidou master. His only defense was either to block the incoming spells with a shielding bakudo like Enkosen, or try and bind Tessai with something like Hainawa.

Ichigo was starting to look more like a piece of meat hung out to dry rather then a human being. Finally, right as Tessai was about to hit him with another Sokatsui, he snapped

"God-Damnit! How the hell am I supposed to bind or block you with such low level spells anyway!?"

Tessai froze. He lowered his hand from their position in front of him, and walked over to look the still bound Ichigo in the eye.

"Are you questioning these teaching methods?"

His voice was calm and collected. Ichigo's however, when he responded, was not.

"Damn straight I am. I have been able to cast every one of the spells you have taught me so far, but none of them have been able to stand of to your reiatsu or any of the stuff you've thrown at me! It's pointless!"

He punctuated this by letting out a controlled pulse of reiatsu and shattering the bakudo holding him hostage. Meeting Tessai's calm gaze with his own frustrated one, he was deeply surprised when he saw a smile unfurl across his teacher's face.

"Good. You would be an idiot not to be mad at this point."

By the end of Tessai's sentence, Ichigo's jaw was hanging open. Seemingly oblivious to the teen's disbelief, Tessai continued,

"However, while it may seem very frustrating to you, how many different bakudo have you successfully cast today?"

Screwing his face up in concentration momentarily, Ichigo leaned over and rested atop his zanpactou which he had stabbed into the ground earlier. Coming to a count, he looked up and said,

"I don't know, maybe thirty?"

That was when it struck him. He had succeeded in casting thirty different bakudo. In one session.

_Well I feel like an idiot... and an ass._

_**Sounds about right King.**_

Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, Ichigo started to apologize,

"Right... look Tessai-san I-"

Tessai just waved his hand in front of him, interrupting the teen.

"Don't bother young master Ichigo, it is true that this exercise was needlessly frustrating. Especially since you could probably have picked up the spells's usage without such a strict regiment."

Ignoring the growing confusion on his student's face, Tessai continued after a slight pause.

"However-"

At this he looked directly into Ichigo's eyes over his glasses.

"Yamamoto-sotaicho recommended this style of training himself for you and others like you, and I am quite sure that this will help you use them far more effectively then otherwise possible."

Not allowing any time for questions concerning the origin or effectiveness of his methods, Tessai went on as he turned and began to walk away.

"The main difference master Ichigo, between a kidou such as shakaho cast by yourself and a shakaho cast by myself or another master of the Art is efficiency."

He gave the the young teen a pointed look, and he only explained further once he saw the comprehension begin to dawn in the eyes the young teen.

"I see you are beginning to understand. Each spell that is cast has a limit to how much reiatsu can be used within its construction, this is the main difference between the lower and higher spells, and the reason for shinigami with naturally high reiatsu, such as our young freeloader,-"

From off in the distance, amidst a cloud of dust, Ichigo was sure he heard Renji protest,

"Hey!"

"- to have initial difficulties with Kidou. Lower spells allow for more error in their structure, and thus are easier to cast, but therefore lack the power of the far more complex higher spells. The power available for usage in the spell _does _depend in part on the user, the more you have, the stronger and more durable the structure of the spell is. If you have a larger pool of reiatsu, your spells will _naturally _ be able to hold more reiatsu and be able to be more powerful."

Here he stopped, and began to walk away from Ichigo. Getting a few feet away, he turned back to face the substitute and continued his explanation.

"_A_ _skilled_ kidou user however, makes very few errors in the structure of even the smallest kidou, and the fewer errors one has in its structure, the more powerful it will be far an exponential margin"

With this he pointed his hand to the left, his gaze never faltering from the student before him, and whispered,

"Hado 1, Sho"

Ichigo felt his eyes widen as he watched the entirety of the large boulder beside Tessai disintegrate and be blown away by the force of the weakest of all Hado, _without an incantation_.

Tessai had no visible reaction to the shock on Ichigo's face, or his feat of control and strength, and as he lowered his muscular arm back to rest at his side, he continued in a normal, even tone.

"This is a fine demonstration of this rule. An incantation is merely a tool to help 'plug the leaks' so to speak in the structure of the spell. It is merely a crutch for those who have not truly mastered the spell. Because of my familiarity with 'Sho' the effect you see before you is produced."

Smiling now Tessai finally added,

"of course, one can never _truly_ master a spell, or at least no one has mastered any other then 'sho' or 'sai' in living memory, so it is always safe to assume that an incantation will always strengthen one's construction of the spell in question."

Tessai halted his lecture, and looked on in silence as the young man before him pondered his words.

Ichigo had been listening quite intently to his sensei in the few minutes prior, and now his experiences were starting to make a _lot_ more sense. Initially, the incantation and his earlier knowledge of the spell's function had led the show in manipulating the form his reiatsu should take for each casting. He was sort of guessing as how he should move his reiatsu to cast the spell, and the incantation helped him do that, but after being pressured so much, he was starting to pick up on the basic forms of each of the bakudo he had been practicing. As a result, he had noticed a definite increase in his casting speed, as well as the ability of his bakudo to hold back the spells being thrown at him. The training had pushed him to instinctively pick up on the structure of the spells because of the limitations imposed on him in order to deal with the higher level spells.

Breaking away from his intense staring match with one of the rocks on the ground in front of him, Ichigo looked up into the glinting glasses of the man before him with a smirk plastered on his face and said,

"I get it. It's kinda like the difference in the amount of reiatsu Yoruichi needs to reach a certain speed compared to someone like Kenpachi. Her skill lets her use less power, aka a lower spell, to do the same thing."

His feral grin reminiscent of his hollow's now, he continued in an eager voice,

"Well, what are we waiting for old man? I wanna be able to stop even the old geezer in Seretei with 'Sai' before this is out Tessai-san"

Smiling softly at the enthusiasm and determination being displayed, Tessai said quietly,

"Very well Master Ichigo. However, I will not restrain myself this time."

Smiling even wider at the understanding and shock on the face of the young warrior, Tessai's smile widened almost imperceptibly as he began the incantation for a hado.

Urahara had removed himself from the 'beat on Renji' session to watch the progress of his youngest pupil and friend. In just a few hours the kid had come from never having cast a kidou in his life to casting bakudo with a skill that would give some 3rd seats and even lieutenants trouble matching. Granted, he hadn't even started the hado or higher level binding spells, but still...

Satisfied with the, as usual, terrifying progress of the transcendental being, Kisuke turned to face scene before him.

"Don't hold back Renji!"

The shopkeeper frowned. The petite Kuckiki, now standing still and arguing loudly with the former freeloader, was right. She was being pushed to her limits, as she should be, by Renji's bankai. However, even when Kisuke had been aiding her, it was quite obvious that Renji was witholding most of his strength. He had heard of the obsession the red-head had developed with gaining strength in the last few months after the War, but he was still surprised with the fruits of the red head's labor. Rukia was not pushing him enough to make improve at all.

Chuckling to himself, Kisuke supposed that he should probably change that, so he drew his Benehime once more and called out in a sing-song voice,

"Ooooh Freeloader! I hope your not getting too comfortable beating up on someone without Bankai, because I'm coming over to play now!"

Rukia's _lack_ of improvement was something of a concern, but Ichigo would remedy that soon enough, and this _would_ help her. Renji had come a long way, but he still couldn't keep up with the likes of the genius candy store owner himself, and he needed to be reminded of that fact.

* * *

><p><strong>Get ready, because, next chapter Ichigo gets to really fight someone :) BOOM! haha<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed, don't forget to R&R**


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